Before soft drinks came in bottles, Italian families made their own: fruit syrups cooked in early summer and kept in the cupboard, to be stirred into cold water through the hot months. Sour cherries, amarene, were a favorite in Emilia Romagna, which grows them in abundance, and a glass of water tinted ruby with amarena syrup remains a fixture of bars and kitchens across the region. In San Marino, which shares the region's orchards and its habits, it belongs to the same tradition, and so do its uses: the same syrup is poured over shaved ice and spooned onto gelato.

The syrup is nothing more than cherries and sugar, left to macerate overnight and then boiled briefly. It tastes far more of fruit than anything from a shop, and a bottle in the fridge turns a glass of sparkling water into something to look forward to on a warm race afternoon.

Sour cherry syrup

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) sour cherries
• 3 cups (600 g) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice

Method

1. Rinse the cherries and pull off the stems. Push out the pits with the pitter or by pressing a straw through the stem end. Work over the saucepan to catch the juice.
2. Stir the sugar into the cherries, cover and leave in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight, stirring once if you think of it.
3. Bring the pan to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Lower the heat to a steady simmer and cook for 15 minutes, skimming off any pink foam with a spoon.
4. Stir in the lemon juice. Strain through the fine sieve, pressing gently on the cherries. Let the syrup cool for 10 minutes, then pour through the funnel into the clean bottle and close.

To serve

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) per glass sour cherry syrup
• 1 cup (240 ml) per glass cold sparkling or still water
• a few per glass ice cubes

Method

1. Pour the syrup into a glass, add ice and top with cold water. Stir and taste; add a little more syrup for a sweeter drink.

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