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Thing Six: Homemade maraschino cherries
May. 25th, 2012 10:56 amI love Manhattans. Two parts rye to one part sweet vermouth, a couple dashes of bitters, and a maraschino cherry for garnish. I discovered them about a year and a half ago, and fell in love. When it comes to the cherry, I can tolerate the neon-red, HFCS-infused ones you usually see in the store (in small doses), but am not fond of them. Better than those are the ones I get at my regular supermarket which are cane sugar sweetened and naturally colored. They aren't bad at all. Better still are the ones sold by Luxardo, which are candied in marasca cherry syrup. However, I've been wanting to try making my own for some time now. I recently bought some cherries, and while they were staring at me in the fridge, I decided to do this.
I bought a bottle of Luxardo marschino liqueur, which is made with both cherries and cracked cherry pits (the latter providing the almond-y flavor element). I also bought a cherry pitter. It's the kind that does four cherries at once, in a stapler-like motion. It is so much fun to use. Now, the cherries I had were sweet cherries, like most cherries sold fresh around here. Sour cherries probably won't be available for another month or so, and then only in a few places. I want to try this with sour cherries too, since that's traditional, but I'll work with what I have for the time being.
I read a lot of different recipes online. Many did not call for the liqueur, but instead used a syrup. Some talked about brining the cherries first, or blanching them. In the end, I decided to just wash them, pit them, and stick them in a sanitized jar. Then, I brought some of the Luxardo to a simmer in the microwave with some added sugar. I poured it over the cherries as soon as it stopped boiling, and then capped the jar. It's in the fridge now. I figure that the alcohol and sugar content will keep the cherries preserved for quite some time. I give it a shake morning and afternoon, and hopefully, I will soon be opening the jar up and popping one of those babies into a gently stirred Manhattan. Yum.
I bought a bottle of Luxardo marschino liqueur, which is made with both cherries and cracked cherry pits (the latter providing the almond-y flavor element). I also bought a cherry pitter. It's the kind that does four cherries at once, in a stapler-like motion. It is so much fun to use. Now, the cherries I had were sweet cherries, like most cherries sold fresh around here. Sour cherries probably won't be available for another month or so, and then only in a few places. I want to try this with sour cherries too, since that's traditional, but I'll work with what I have for the time being.
I read a lot of different recipes online. Many did not call for the liqueur, but instead used a syrup. Some talked about brining the cherries first, or blanching them. In the end, I decided to just wash them, pit them, and stick them in a sanitized jar. Then, I brought some of the Luxardo to a simmer in the microwave with some added sugar. I poured it over the cherries as soon as it stopped boiling, and then capped the jar. It's in the fridge now. I figure that the alcohol and sugar content will keep the cherries preserved for quite some time. I give it a shake morning and afternoon, and hopefully, I will soon be opening the jar up and popping one of those babies into a gently stirred Manhattan. Yum.
