When you see the word macerated in a recipe it simply means you are tossing an ingredient together with a liquid in order to slowly break the ingredient down, soften it, and ultimately bring out its natural sweetness. Macerating fruit in this way is a wonderful no-cook solution for a quick-and-easy dessert; macerating onions or shallots is also a lovely way to quick-pickle the alliums and impart them with a tangy flavor.  Acidic liquids like wine, citrus juice and vinegar are wonderful macerating liquids.

With sweet, dark red cherries on the brain for a dessert idea this week, I decided to macerate them for about 15 minutes in a mixture of cherry-flavored balsamic vinegar and a touch of brown sugar.  A decadent topping for vanilla ice cream, frozen yogurt, Greek yogurt and even a lightly sweetened base of ricotta cheese like I decided on.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

Tagged: balsamic vinegar, balsamic-macerated cherries, Bing cherries, brown sugar, Cherries, confectioner's sugar, dark red cherries, dessert, fruit dessert, macerated cherries, macerated fruit, macerating, ricotta cheese, sweetened ricotta cheese