Maraschino Cherries

Really?

Yes.

I never set out to make maraschino cherries, but fell into it when The Husband and I sat reading our “Raising the Bar” book and keenly observed that the cocktails I gravitated towards called for the little cherry buggers. If there’s anything I know about maraschino cherries, it’s that they are necessary when making Cherry Chew Bars (I’ll so post the recipe near Christmas, when I actually make them), and that the ingredients are revolting. Like most things in a jar in the supermarket. (Did you know that even pickles have sodium benzoate, my new “I refuse to eat anything with that in it” preservative of the moment?)

So the book extolled the virtues of homemade maraschino cherries, and while I’ll realistically have like 2 or 3 cocktails this whole summer that might actually require them, I was on a mission. (It totally helped that the recipe recommended serving the cherries with ice cream or toasted pound cake. Nice.)

These are better as they age, so don’t think you’ll make them today and serve them tonight over your vanilla Ben & Jerry’s (or you could, if you wanted, I don’t mean to boss you around). But the magic of the maraschino comes from patience, and more patience. You’re supposed to let them steep in their sugary goodness for at least 24 hours. So get cracking now, and you’ll have them for dessert tomorrow night (or for that drink, right?).

From the Raising the Bar recipe by Nick Mautone…

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup dark grape juice (use 100% juice, and not white grape juice)

1 cup sugar

3 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

Pinch of salt

1 whole star anise

1 teaspoon real almond extract

1 pound sweet cherries, pitted
1. In a medium saucepan, combine water, grape juice, sugar, lemon juice, salt and star anise. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat and then simmer for 5 minutes (so sugar dissolves).
2. Add almond extract and cherries to saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes (cherries will start to release their juices). Don’t overcook!
3. Remove pan from the heat, remove star anise, and pour contents into a bowl to cool to room temperature. Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Tips:
- Cherry notes- if your cherries are really sour (and not sweet), consider adding a tablespoon more sugar and maybe a touch less lemon. You can use frozen cherries if you must. Bummer: I don’t know how to pit cherries without cutting them in half first, so mine are all marachino halves. There is probably a special gadget out there to do the job properly, but quite frankly I’m too lazy right now to look online out of curiosity. (The Husband says it doesn’t matter that they are in halves, so there.)
- Freeze-friendly- you betcha. I am freezing most of these in little ziploc bags, and will even freeze the juice (of which there is LOTS) to use for the aforementioned Cherry Chew Squares. I will never use bottled maraschino cherries again. Gross.
- Cheers!
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July 18th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Cherries, Unidentifiable!

2 Responses and Counting...

Regina @ SpecialtyCakeCreations 07.18.2012

Hmmm…these sound really delicious. I am usually not a big fan of them and let hubby have mine. But I think I would love these home-made ones.
More Sweets Please

Yes- these are the real deal- the almond flavor makes them resemble the “fake” grocery store ones, but they’re about 700 times better. Next time I’ll keep the stems on, but I didn’t think of it this time… :)