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In English, there is such an idiomatic expression “the cherry on top” – “cherry on top”, which means “the finishing touch” of something, in our case, of course – an alcoholic cocktail. Today’s article will be completely devoted to the maraschino cocktail cherry – we will find out why it is needed, how it was produced before and how it is produced now (spoiler: bad), and, of course, we will analyze some interesting recipes for homemade maraschino cherries from the best bartenders in the world!
How can one imagine, for example, a Manhattan cocktail without a “zest” immersed in its exciting bowels – a small but such a tempting cocktail cherry! And not only Manhattan – neither Old Fashion, nor Martinez, nor Whiskey Sour can do without this specific and rare product. In short, if you are going to organize your own home bar – without a cocktail cherry, its assortment will always be incomplete, and the cocktails themselves will look poor and incomplete. Don’t worry – it’s not necessary to buy Maraschino for big money – the recipe for making maraschino cherries is not at all complicated, but this product turns out to be much more interesting and certainly more natural than purchased!
Cocktail Cherry Recipes – Now and Then
What is a modern maraschino cherry, even Wikipedia will tell you. This is a complex product prepared using a multi-stage technology, which has neither the taste nor the smell of cherries, and even outwardly resembles this berry only remotely. In the production of maraschino cherries, substances such as quicklime, sulfur dioxide, sodium chlorite and disulfite, food coloring, flavoring additives and a lot of sugar are used.
But let’s not throw tantrums about the harmfulness of this product, as on sites from the category “Oh, girls!”. For example, sulfur dioxide is widely used in the manufacture of wine – Signor Gudimov even wrote a recent article about it. Sodium chlorite is a harmless bleach found in, for example, any toothpaste. And the terrible quicklime is ordinary calcium oxide, which, by the way, has been used for centuries in the production of bakery products, refined sugar and sunflower oil. Everything would be fine, but the cherry in this way turns out to be completely not “cherry”. Sweet – yes. The taste of almonds is present in it (almond extract is added to the syrup), but this, as they say, is “not a cake at all”. And it’s all about history and tradition.
Initially, maraska cherry grew in one single region – Dalmatia, on the territory of modern Montenegro and Croatia. This is a small, almost black, bitter-sour berry, which has little in common with cherries in the usual sense; in taste and aroma, it is rather closer to cherries, but not at all sweet.
But, for some reason, it was to the taste of European aristocrats in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries and quickly gained a reputation as an exotic, elite product. The locals, don’t be fools, supported this popularity as best they could – they began to sell the cherries themselves, tried to salt them and pickle them for ease of transportation, and later learned to make the sweet colorless liqueur Maraschino based on marasca, which is distinguished by a bright almond note with a cherry flavor, and already the berries themselves began to soak in it.
Naturally, the product received a new round of development in the States – in the late 1800s, bar culture began to develop here, and cocktail cherries became wildly popular. As an import substitution, the United States began to grow its own variety of cherries, similar to marasca. At the same time, canning is rapidly developing – cherries are now soaked not only in alcohol, but also in various salts, acids, syrups and other filth. The dry law of the 20s and 30s completely changed cocktail cherries – at that time it became almost the same as it is now, “tasteless – colorless – odorless”, Resembling a cherry only in shape and the presence of a tail.
In our time, fortunately, traditions are being revived. Now to use purchased cherries in a decent bar is a bad form. Bartenders experiment with might and main with recipes for preparing maraschino cherries, they use not only authentic Maraschino for soaking, but also other alcoholic drinks – for example, Amaretto, just cherry liqueur, brandy, whiskey, rum in a wide variety of combinations, add various spices and spices to all this splendor . In general, there is where to turn around fantasies – you can, you need to cook such a product with your own hands, and, by the way, it’s not at all difficult.
The New York Times in the early 1900s described such a funny incident. A young girl stopped in one of the rooms of a fashionable hotel and immediately ordered a Manhattan for herself. Literally five minutes later she called the bellhop and ordered another one. Then the second, third, fifth. Finally, she asked for a dozen to be brought to her at once.
Concerned management sent the manager to find out how so much booze is placed in a young lady. Entering the room, he found that all the cocktails were untouched. But there are no cocktail cherries in any of the glasses.
How to make a cocktail cherry at home?
We also make cocktail cherries “for the winter” – there are tons of identical recipes on the network, in which hostesses recommend soaking poor berries in moonshine and vinegar, and boiling for half an hour in sugar syrup – you won’t find anything! Of course, we will approach the issue more elegantly. Since our “cherry on top” is the final touch, then it must be perfect!
Of course, you will not find real maraschino in our latitudes, as well as its counterparts such as amarena. According to connoisseurs, the closest thing to the Croatian cherry, if not in taste, then at least in structure, is an ordinary sweet cherry. You can also experiment with Dukes – cherry-cherry hybrids, or simply choose the most bittersweet and always very fragrant berry.
Classic maraschino recipe
Everything is extremely simple here – for half a kilo of cherries / cherries you will need to take 400 milliliters of maraschino. To reduce the cost of the product and – at the same time – give it a deeper, richer taste, part of the liquor can be replaced with another alcohol – for example, dark rum or grain whiskey. Some bartenders take only 75 ml of liquor and 350 ml of whiskey for the indicated number of berries. You can also add sugar to the tincture, but according to the classics – if the cherry is planned to be used specifically in cocktails, and not eaten or put in pastries – it is not sweetened.
First you need to remove the seeds from the fruit. If you want the tails to stay in place – like a real maraschino – the bones can be picked out on the other side with a pin. If the cuttings are not needed – they are still not edible – no one will forbid you to use a cherry peeler. Next, loosely place the berries in a suitable jar, add a pinch of salt, pour alcohol to the top, close the lid and shake. Insist in a dark place for 7-10 days. Everything, our maraschino cherry is ready! Store it in the refrigerator and use as needed.
Spicy Cocktail Cherry with Skate
This recipe is more complicated and poky, but cheaper and the result will be more interesting. Cherries obtained by this method are sweet, spicy, with a heady cognac flavor – they will not only fit perfectly into bright, rich cocktails, but are also suitable for home baking. Plus, they are delicious on their own. The main thing is not to overdo it with such a delicacy!
- cherry / cherry – 500 grams;
- sugar (can be brown) – 1 cup;
- vanilla – 1-2 beans or a couple of centimeters of a pod;
- cherry juice – 1 glass;
- bay leaf – 1 small;
- cloves – 2 things;
- nutmeg – a small pinch;
- cherry liqueur (can be homemade) – ¼ cup;
- brandy – 250 ml.
Wash the cherries and free from the pit. Pour cherry juice into a saucepan, put sugar, vanilla and spices there (sugar can be used less or more than in the recipe, to taste, in short). Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat until liquid is reduced by half, usually within 8-10 minutes. Remove spices from syrup. Add cherry liqueur to the mixture (I think, in its absence, the cherry will not lose anything much) and brandy, mix thoroughly and pour directly hot on the cherry. Close the jar and let it cool naturally. Move to a cool place. In a week, our cocktail cherry will be ready!
Spicy Cocktail Cherry with Amaretto
Another variation of unsweetened cherries. According to this recipe, the cooked maraschino cherry turns out, although remotely, but still similar to the real Maraschino – the almond taste of amaretto affects. By the way, homemade Amaretto or a simple apricot pit tincture will fit right in here.
- cherry / cherry – 300 grams;
- orange zest – from half a large fruit;
- cinnamon – a small stick;
- star anise – half an asterisk;
- cloves – 3 buds;
- brandy – 200 ml;
- Amaretto liqueur – 50-100 ml.
Carefully cut the zest from the orange, being careful not to take the bitter white rind. Free the cherries from the pits, put in a jar. Add zest and spices, pour amaretto-cognac mixture. Insist for at least 10 days, after which the cherry can already be used!
non-alcoholic maraschino cherry
What you need for Shirley Temple, other non-alcoholic cocktails, desserts, pastries! Delicious, sweet, moderately spicy, almond cherry, which, by the way, will be ready much faster than the previous three recipes. If you don’t have almond extract, you can replace it with the same amaretto, literally 100 ml, anyway, when preparing the syrup, the alcohol will evaporate, and the taste of almonds will remain.
- cherry / cherry – 400 grams;
- one and a half glasses of water;
- half a glass of 100% grape juice;
- cup sugar;
- juice from three medium lemons;
- a pinch of salt;
- a small star anise;
- a teaspoon of almond extract.
Place water, juices and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add sugar, cook, stirring, until it dissolves. After that, almond extract and cherries are added to the liquid. The mixture must again be brought to a boil, set the smallest fire and simmer until our brew acquires a clear cherry flavor – no more than 8-10 minutes, preferably less, otherwise the berries will burst and become ugly. Transfer the chilled syrup with cherries to a jar and refrigerate. A cocktail cherry prepared according to this recipe will be ready in a day or two!
All recipes for making maraschino cherries are not at all complicated, relatively affordable and quite do-it-yourself! Such a cherry in itself will be a wonderful delicacy, it will perfectly decorate your desserts, but for homemade cocktails it will become a real “the cherry on top”, the perfect finishing touch that turns the drink into unconditional perfection!
The article uses materials from the book The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Make the World’s Great Drinks by Emmy Stewart, Spice & Ice: 60 Tongue-Tingling Cocktails by Cara Newman, and the Afisha Daily website.