Homemade Maraschino Cherries???

Well, I have a whole tree full of cherries (bing?) that will be ripe in about a week. Before the birds and my kids eat them all, I thought about making some homemade maraschino cherries. Do any of y'all have any experience in making their own? The interwires tell me that there are at least brandy soaked, bourbon soaked, and maraschino liqueur soaked varieties. For my tiki cocktails, cherries go on top. For Manhattans and Old Fashioneds, they take a plunge. So, the base liquor appears to be of some importance. Anyhow, any input would be helpful.

Cheers!

Here's a recipe pulled from the maraschino liqueur thread:

On 2008-10-25 16:57, Kahuna Kent wrote:
Luxardo Maraschino is the important ingredient in making homemade maraschino cherries. Once you try these, you'll never go back to the red dye things:

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 oz lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick (smash it up into 1/2" pieces)
1/3 cup water

Bring to boil in a large saucepan (we want lots of shallow surface area) Then reduce heat to medium

Add 2 lbs washed cherries (you can remove the pits if you want - I like to keep them "natural")

Simmer 5 minutes to release the cherry flavor into the "soup"

Add 6 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1 oz Cognac

Heat on low, stirring the concoction for another 5 or 6 minutes

Remove from heat.

Stir in 1 oz Orgeat.

Allow to cool - put a jar - then into the fridge

The cherries make an awesome addition to your favorite cocktails - and the "Maraschino Cherry" juice is delicious - (but powerfully strong flavor - especially if you use Luxardo - use this sparingly)- try 1/4 oz - 1/2 oz in your favorite "zombie" recipe to make a "Blood Zombie" for Halloween!

IN ALL MY YEARS I'VE BEEN ON TC I'VE NEGLECTED STOPPING BY HERE. TODAY I LOOKED, LOVED YOUR POST AND NOW I'M HOOKED. THANK FOR A FUN STOP, WENDY

I like adding cracked pits into the macerating liquid. VERY cherry-ish flavor.

On 2011-05-27 14:09, jokeiii wrote:
I like adding cracked pits into the macerating liquid. VERY cherry-ish flavor.

To the above recipe???

On 2011-05-27 11:17, danlovestikis wrote:
IN ALL MY YEARS I'VE BEEN ON TC I'VE NEGLECTED STOPPING BY HERE. TODAY I LOOKED, LOVED YOUR POST AND NOW I'M HOOKED. THANK FOR A FUN STOP, WENDY

WELL....THIS IS WHERE ALL THE FUN IS!!!

We usually leave our cap locks at home though. :D They get in the way of the umbrellas.

Third hand from one of my homies:

I soaked frozen but thawed organic cherries for weeks, months, in Damiana brandy, which is easy to make: steep dried damiana in brandy (rougly a 1:4 ratio herb to liquor), shake once or twice daily; strain after a mininum of 2 weeks.

Damiana is apparently an aphrodisiac. :blush:

WENDY, THIS IS WHERE ALL THE GOOD STUFF IS!!!

(Jingle, you'll have to excuse Wendy - she broke her arm and now she types with the cap lock on. As soon as she's better, she go back to normal :D )

I was thinking about making my own cherries a little while back, I want some blue ones.

On 2011-05-27 14:59, MadDogMike wrote:

(Jingle, you'll have to excuse Wendy - she broke her arm and now she types with the cap lock on. As soon as she's better, she go back to normal :D )

LOL! I just figured that out. I doubt she'll "go back to normal" if she hangs out down here for long. :drink: :D

On 2011-05-27 14:59, MadDogMike wrote:
I was thinking about making my own cherries a little while back, I want some blue ones.

Get 'em at Amazon. Also have green/lime flavored, yellow/lemon, orange/passion fruit, and of course, red.

On 2011-05-27 14:13, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

On 2011-05-27 14:09, jokeiii wrote:
I like adding cracked pits into the macerating liquid. VERY cherry-ish flavor.

To the above recipe???

Not exactly.

6 pounds dark, sweet cherries (pitted, pits reserved)
¾ cup sugar
1 cup water
¼ cup fresh, strained lemon juice (the lemon peels reserved)
2 cinnamon sticks
1¼ cups cherry brandy or liqueur

Once the liquid has boiled, I add the pits as it comes off the heat and then the peels halfway down the cooldown phase.

Jokeiii, did you use cherry heering?

On 2011-05-28 12:57, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:
Jokeiii, did you use cherry heering?

This LAST time, yes.

I just bought a Dwarf Weeping Willow Cherry Tree. My neighbor has a couple of Dwarf Plums, but I went to several nurseries and couldn't find any pruned small enough. So thinking this cherry tree might provide some fruit in a couple of years, got me thinking about making my own maraschino cherries. I pulled this recipe off the net, so based on the one above, how successful have you been in making your cherries?

HOME MADE MASASCHINO CHERRIES

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of maraschino liquor (Luxardo brand)

Instructions

Wash and pit the cherries.
In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except the cherries and liqueur and bring to a rolling boil.
When the liquid begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium.
Add the cherries and simmer for 5–7 minutes.
Remove from heat, add the liqueur, and let cool.
Transfer the cherries and liquid into clean jars and refrigerate, uncovered, until cherries are cool to touch.
Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2013-06-16 15:38 ]

Oooohhh. Something more that I can make myself!

I've been using the recipe I posted above with resounding success for the last +/-2 yrs. (I canNOT emphasize enough the difference that adding the cracked pits can make!)

OMG love this thread..... to think of all the time I've wasted on store-bought cherries! I am SO trying this :D

Would anyone care to comment about using Maraschino liqueur vs brandy in your cherry recipes? I've been brandying mine with excellent results

One of the keys is that using luxado (not the Croatian stuff) is that the flavor isn't really of cherries, but rather almonds. That comes from the use of cracked pits rather than the cherry flesh that a brandy would use.

One thing I would add to some of the recs might be a good amount of vodka or other neutral spirit just to keep the octane level high enough without wrecking the flavor.