The Bermuda Cherry or Surinam cherry, as it’s more commonly known, became naturalised to Bermuda in the 19th century. It now makes up many of the hedgerows on our island and can often be found growing wild. Here is a great old-school recipe using these delicious sour red-orange berries for a Bermudian take on a classic lemon meringue pie.
For the Pastry:
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of lard (straight from the fridge, cold)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of ice water
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut your cold lard into small pieces. In a large mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients and combine. Add your fat and mix by hand, or use a stand mixer. Combine the lard with the dry mix until you have a sandy mixture. Add ice-cold water and kneed until a dough has formed once you have a cohesive dough stop handling immediately. Roll out your dough and line an 8-inch pie plate. Option to use baking parchment and pie weight or dry beans to weigh down your pie’s base while baking. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.
For the filling:
1 quart Bermuda cherries
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
Small piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon lemon juice
While your pie crust is baking, make your filling and meringue. Wash and pit cherries. To a pot, add your cherries, water, ginger, and sugar. Cook on medium to low heat until your cherries are tender but still whole. Add lemon juice. Let cool. While your filling and crust are cooling, you can whip up your meringue.
For the meringue:
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
Beat ingredients together until meringue stands in peaks. Pour your now cooled cherry filling into your pastry crust. Top with meringue and place in oven until meringue is golden brown – approximately ten minutes.
