Sweet-and-Sour Cherries with Bay Leaves

• 1/2 pound sour cherries
• 20 black peppercorns, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup white-wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Wash the cherries and lay them on a dry cloth.
2. Snip off the nubby ends of the stems with scissors.
3. Using a needle, prick each cherry two or three times and drop it into a one-pint canning jar.
4. Toss in the crushed peppercorns and tuck the bay leaves among the cherries.
5. Bring the vinegar, sugar and 1/3 cup water to a boil in a small pan, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
6. Cover the cherries with the liquid, close the jar and let cool before refrigerating.
7. The cherries will be ready to eat in two or three days.
8. Serve with chicken-liver mousse, duck, salami or other charcuterie.

sour cherries, black, bay leaves, whitewine vinegar, sugar

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012625 (may not work)