Sweet-and-Sour Cherries with Bay Leaves

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

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