Cherry-Grief Soup (Chilled)

TJ Price

 

!! FOR THE EYES OF VREDEVELD FAMILY MEMBERS ONLY !!

If you’re reading this recipe, you must be in mourning.

If you are not in mourning, you will be soon.

From the one you have lost:

First, procure a snatch of the burial shroud. Any part of the garment will do, though it is imperative that you not cut a hole in the shroud, making it possible for untoward Spirits to make ingress. Make sure that your selection is four inches wide by four inches across (at least), and have a short length of kitchen twine available to you.

Next, collect the fingernails from the left hand of the one you have lost using needle-nose pliers. Death will have made the flesh spongy and irresolute, so you should have no trouble with this grim harvest. Make sure that all five are well-represented, unless the one you have lost has less than five digits. In this case, make sure to collect an extra fingernail from the right hand. If the one you have lost is one-handed, in this extreme circumstance, a toenail from the left foot will do.

From your darkening orchard:

Collect at least one and one-half pounds of very ripe cherries and press them through a sieve. Put the resulting purée into a bowl, then pick the stones out of the resulting mixture and separate them into a mortar. With a pestle, crush the stones until there is only a fine gray powder. Combine this with the cherry purée and let macerate for one hour’s time.

From you:

Once the cherries are macerating, proceed to a mirror. You will notice that prolonged exposure to the orchard will have left some of your hairs without pigment. Select the three whitest of these and pluck them from your scalp. Add these to the maceration when there are fifteen minutes left in the hour, and stir to combine.

From your garden:

Pick five to six of only the brightest flowers from the Datura plant (Devil’s Trumpet). Be sure to wear gloves when handling these innocent-seeming blooms, and once you have done so, immerse them in just-boiling water until the light has gone out of their petals and the flowers have reduced to half their size. Discard the flowers.

🍒

When the hour of maceration is up, proceed to the stove. Combine the cherry maceration, a cinnamon stick, and the grated zest of half a lemon into a pot. Add the Datura-steeped water into the pot and bring to a ferocious boil.

When the soup is at a boil, add one-half cup sugar, stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat.

Take the piece of burial shroud and lay in the center of it the fingernails you have procured. Make a small pouch, as you would with cheesecloth, and tie it tightly shut with the length of kitchen twine. Submerge this boeket grijs into the simmering soup and let it sit for approximately seventeen minutes. When this time is up, take out the boeket grijs and discard. (Directions for proper discarding at back of book.)

Let soup cool to room temperature before serving, then sit in an ice-bath for one hour. Only use family heirloom spoons to eat, and between each mouthful, make sure you whisper the appropriate prayer (see Great-Aunt Lois’ Book of Prayers for the Hours.) After the third mouthful (and orison), look out the window towards your darkening orchard.

If you notice that there is a strong wind, and yet the cherry trees do not move, your grief will lapse and a stoniness will come over your heart.

If, however, you see the cherry trees waving in the wind, you may have performed any one of these steps incorrectly. In this case, induce emesis immediately. Collect your wretched tears, if possible, as they can be used to ward off the Spirits which are even now on their way to punish you for attempting to stanch your grief in this manner.

About the author:

 

TJ Price’s corporeal being is currently located in Raleigh, NC, with his handsome partner of many years, but his ghosts live in north-eastern Connecticut, southern Maine, and North Brooklyn. His work has been published in Coffin Bell Journal and The Bear Creek Gazette; he can be found at tjpricewrites.com or on the blue bird @eerieyore.

This site is a speculative fiction project.

Do not make any of these recipes.

They’re impossible, dangerous, and not tasty.