A Surinam cherry is a very tart, but still slightly sweet tropical berry about the size of a cherry. Substitutes could include other tart berries, cherries, gooseberries, (Blueberries? Strawberries?) other small tart fruits that have a little firmness.

An ad hoc production, where you use your culinary intuition and "just wing it" --the primary method was the cooking down of the cherries to in the case of to about 30 percent of the original volume. This causes the cherries to thicken up, without anything added to them. We added a lot (!) of ginger, less of garlic, salt, cayenne, honey (after it cooled, and because Surinam cherries are very sour. You should never heat honey above 110 degrees fahrenheit, that might not be spelled right, but, hey, there are no words going into the pot, right?)