Preserving Cherries

Seems like I couldn’t get away from cherries last weekend we dined at a restaurant with a great fresh cherry cheesecake it had a chocolate almond crust Sir Wes kept saying, LORD this is good!  Then I read a blog over at A Cook Walks Into A Bar, who was making homemade Maraschino cherries!!  What???  Who knew??  Not sure why I never thought about fresh made…. just goes to show you, there is always something new to discover!

And then there were Acerola Cherries at the farmers market the next day- Awesome!  Because we were leaving for a family vacation this week, I was a bit limited on time, could not get to the liquor store for the traditional liquor needed for the maraschinos, next time!!  So I used what I had in the pantry- no need to get caught up in recipes, we just make it work!!

Acerola Cherries

• 1 pound cherries, seeded (up to you if you want to or not, but I plan to serve them in drinks, and I don’t want to have to worry about seed spitting)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup cherry brandy
• 1 cup brandy
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander
• 1 tablespoon whole black pepper
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• Couple slices of orange peel
• Couple slices of lemon peel
• 2 stems of oregano (had some in the garden, thyme would be nice too, just to add that earthy flavor)

I put all the ingredients together in a leak proof container and turned end over end to mix everything up.  They will need about two weeks before we dive in to them, and will last 6 months.  Just be sure to stir them up every few days.  This is a GREAT treat for your cocktail parties coming thru the summer and into the fall- ummm, I can see tailgate parties with these fancy schmancy treats….Awesome!  Small effort, Huge WOW!

Preserving Cherries