Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup (Meggy Leves) Recipe

Name: Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup (Meggy Leves)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 6 cups water; 1 pound sour cherries (fresh; pitted); 3/4 cup sugar; 1 cup sour cream; 2 tablespoons flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Chill: 2 hrs

Total: 2 hrs 30 mins

Servings: 6 servings

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This Hungarian recipe for sour cherry soup goes by many names—meggy leves, cseresznye leves, meggykeszoce, cibere—and its sweetness varies with the cook. It's typically served cold in the summer when cherries are plentiful.

This soup is traditionally made with tart dark-red Morello cherries, but any tart pie cherry, like fire-engine-red Montmorency cherries, will work in a pinch, as long as they are fresh or at the very least frozen. (Don't use canned.) Never use a sweet Bing cherry. Some recipes call for cinnamon and cloves, with the cherries left unpitted.

6 cups water
1 pound fresh sour cherries, pitted
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar

Gather the ingredients.
In a large saucepan, cook cherries with water and 3/4 cup sugar until done, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix sour cream with flour, salt, and confectioners' sugar until smooth.
When cherries are done, temper the sour cream mixture with a few ladles of hot cherry liquid, whisking until smooth. Transfer to the pan with the cherries and whisk until smooth. Simmer 5 minutes, but do not boil.
Cool to room temperature in an ice water bath. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the soup (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate until cold.
Serve cold as a first course as they do in Hungary or as a dessert with a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream.
Enjoy.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
222	Calories
8g	Fat
38g	Carbs
2g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories	222
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g	10%
Saturated Fat 4g	20%
Cholesterol 23mg	8%
Sodium 112mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 38g	14%
Dietary Fiber 1g	5%
Total Sugars 33g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 8mg	40%
Calcium 59mg	5%
Iron 0mg	2%
Potassium 182mg	4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.