Las cerezas de Irán.

DINING & WINE

The Cherries of Persia By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: June 27, 2007

THE ruby-colored iced drink came in a tall glass set on a painted tray. There were other offerings: ice water, hot tea. But the bright color beckoned. It was the summer of 1999 and I was in Shiraz, the Iranian city of calm, good sense and mystical poetry, a place not of religious pilgrimage but of roses, nightingales, rich people who smoke opium and some of the best wine-producing grapes in the world. I had been invited to lunch at the home of Ayatollah Majdeddin Mahallati, a senior Shiite cleric whose family had once wielded extraordinary power and influence. The drink I chose — a sour cherry confection — had the taste of summer. Bitingly tart and soothingly sweet rather than sour, it blocked out the noise and heat and rules of the Islamic Republic just outside the doors of the ayatollah's house. The sour cherry season in Iran is short — only about three weeks from mid-June to early July. The harvest triggers a mad rush to preserve the fruit's electric vibrancy. Sour cherries boiled in sugar and water with just a hint of vanilla produce a rich syrup called sharbat-e albalu. It is stored in bottles to be mixed with water and masses of ice to drink on special occasions throughout the year. On the day of our lunch, the learned ayatollah looked at the glowing liquid and recited from memory a poem of Iran's greatest epic poet, Abolqasem Ferdowsi: "Two things are my favorite, a young companion and an old wine. The young companion takes away all your sorrows, the old wine gives richness to your life." The ayatollah said he was speaking only metaphorically, of course. Shiraz grapes once produced the finest wine in Iran. But we were in the Islamic Republic, which bans all alcohol. Shiraz also produces some of Iran's best sour cherries. So, blissfully, we sipped on sour cherries instead. Related Recipe: Sour Cherry Syrup (June 27, 2007) Adapted from Najmieh Batmanglij 5 cups sugar 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice 3 pounds washed and stemmed sour cherries, unpitted. In a large pan, bring sugar, lime juice and 3 cups water to a boil, stirring occasionally. Tie cherries up in 2 layers of cheesecloth and gently lower into pan. Cook over medium heat for 25 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Lift cherries in their cheesecloth and hold above pan for a minute to let syrup drain. Set cherries aside and let everything cool. Pour syrup into clean jars or bottles. Keep in refrigerator until needed. If desired, place cherries in a clean jar and cover with syrup. Yield: 2 quarts. Note: Stir 3 or 4 parts cold water with 1 part syrup and add ice to make sour cherry coolers. Syrup can also be diluted with sparkling water to make cherry soda, or used in cocktails. Reserved cherries in syrup may be used in desserts or as cocktail cherries.

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Copyright by the New York Times 2007