Cherry Liqueur
This fruit liqueur is made from the juice of sweet- or sour cherries and is often itself an ingredient in cherry water.
The most famous cherry liqueurs are Cherry Heering from Denmark, Luxardo from Italy or Edelkirsch from Germany.
Cherry liqueurs are among the easiest liqueurs to make at home, and it is also easy to obtain a flavor which is comparable with commercial cherry liqueurs. Homemade cherry liqueurs may be served with ice, and may also be used for making cocktails.
Cherry Liqueur Recipe #1
Ingredients:
1 lb. (450 g) sour cherries
3 cups (710 ml) vodka (or 1 1/2 cup pure grain alcohol + 1 1/2 cup water).
1 1/2 cup (350 g) sugar
Wash and check the cherries and remove stems. Place them in a jar, add vodka, cap with tight lid and mix. Stir daily during the first days, later at least once a week for 3-4 weeks.
Add sugar, and stir until most of it has dissolved. Stir again at least once a week for 3-4 weeks. Filter the mixture of berries and alcohol and transfer the liquid to a bottle. After three months strain the liqueur thru a cloth. Add some more sugar if necessary. The liqueur should mellow for at least 4 months before drinking, preferably for 8 months.
The color of the cherry liqueur is ruby-red and the flavor is delicious. This recipe can also be used with sweet cherries, but the flavor will then be slightly different.
If you wish to make a liqueur with a stronger hint of almond flavor you should pit 1/3 of the cherries, brake them with a hammer, and add the broken piths together with pitted cherries and whole cherries when making the liqueur.
Cherry Liqueur Recipe #2
Ingredients
Cleaned fresh fruit, in a jar.
Enough very strong alcohol to just barely cover all the fruit.
Sugar (see directions for quantity)
Directions
Let the covered jar of fruit and alcohol sit for about a week and a half (it’s covered so the alcohol doesn’t evaporate). Note that no fermentation takes place here- all that happens is that the fruit soaks up the alcohol, and releases some of its juices. Depending on the type of fruit the level of fluid may decrease. Once you’ve decided that the fruit has soaked in much of the alcohol gently pour off the fluid so as not to blemish the fruit (try one now for a taste experience. Call this (very strong) fluid rack #1.
During the following steps you probably should avoid blemishing the fruit if at all possible.
Replace the fruit in the jar, but layer it with sugar. How much sugar is a bit difficult to say here. I usually tried to do my best to cover almost all of the fruit with _some_ sugar. Cover the jar again. What happens now is that the sugar makes the fruit give off its alcohol and shrivel slightly. In a couple of days the level of juice in the jar should reach almost the top of the fruit. This means it is time to pour it off again, call this rack #2.
Now we repeat the layering with sugar step (getting rack#3, rack#4, etc) until only a very small amount of juice is released. I have been told that with cherries this can be kept up until only a tiny little bit of cherry skin is surrounding the pit. Each rack is sweeter and sweeter.
With rasp[black]berries I got to rack #4 and then got bored waiting for really small amounts of juice. So I took the berries, threw them into a cloth and twisted the hell out them to release the vestiges of alcohol and juice. This was rack#5. The left over pulp can be used with ice-cream. Note that this step is entirely optional, four racks were plenty enough (but why waste alcohol.
Now comes the fun part:
Invite several friends (I used 5) and mix the different racks in various proportions and get some feedback on how they taste (too sweet, too alcoholic, too dry, etc). Don’t use too many friends or else you won’t have any left afterthe tasting. Now you should know what proportions to mix the final product in. Disposing of juice _not_ used in the final mix is left as an exercise to the reader (I had some sweet stuff left over and use it on ice cream).
Thoughts on the final mix:
In my case the final mix was very close to the ratio of rack#1: rack#2: rack#3 etc. This was convenient because I got the maximum of liqueur with minimal leftovers.
You can find a plenty of other cherry liqueur recipes over the web.
Cherry Heering
A superior cherry liqueur made in Denmark from native cherries with an intense bittersweet flavor. Made by the house of Heering, it is a famous ingredient in the true Singapore Sling.
Cherry Heering liqueur, purveyor to H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and to the Royal Danish Court, has been produced since 1818 and is the original “Cherry Brandy.” Cherry Heering liqueur is sold in more than 100 countries all over the world and is the essential ingredient in the world famous Singapore Sling and Blood and Sand cocktails.
Why is CHERRY HEERING one the most classic ingredients of all time? This lineage of cocktail history is the backbone of Cherry Heering liqueur. Cherry Heering Liqueur has been around since 1818, and has the seals of nobility and style behind the Heering name. Cherry Heering Liqueur was created by Peter F. Heering and blended into cocktails associated with the entire British Empire and many other Royal Courts throughout Europe.
The cherries that are used in Cherry Heering Liqueur are carefully pressed to open the pulp and allow the spirit to penetrate. The cherry mass is then gathered up in wooden casks, where natural spirit is added together with a finely blended selection of spices A century ago gold medals provided a seal of approval that Cherry Heering liqueur possessed the proper style, class and breeding to socialize with Russian Tsars and English Dukes.
The modern day seal of approval comes from the top US mixologist in top high end bar and lounges who are creating cocktails with the ultimate cocktail accessory – Cherry Heering liqueur.
Cherry Heering is more relevant than ever, being an indispensable component of trendsetting and classic cocktails. Enter the world famous Singapore Sling – by contributing to the legendary Singapore Sling, Cherry Heering establishes itself as an accessory that adds lavishness, extravagance and civilization to the cocktail mix.
Cherry Heering liqueur acknowledges a heartfelt dose of appreciation to those who have helped make Cherry Heering liqueur a legendary part of history including The British East India Trading Company, a fine lineage of Russian Tsars, Sir Humphrey, the Duke of Marlborough, Kings Gustav IV Adolf and Gustav V of Sweden, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Empire of Japan, the Kingdom of Greece and every Royal of the past two hundred years but most cordially to the Kings and Queens of England.
CHERRY HEERING liqueur is a sweet, full-bodied liqueur that is ruby red in color and has been produced in Denmark since 1818 to an original secret recipe handed down through five generations. CHERRY HEERING liqueur is made entirely from Danish cherries, spirit and spices and without any artificial flavours or colouring. CHERRY HEERING liqueur’s rich and rounded finish comes from its maturation in casks for a minimum of five years.
* A special strain of cherry is used- the small, dark Stevens Cherry which has been evolved from an ancient variety still to be found growing wild in parts of Denmark
* In order to make the CHERRY HEERING liqueur, the Stevens cherries are pressed together with stones to create a unique cherry taste
* The pressed cherries (including the juice that is pressed off the fruits) are then pumped to oak vats where alcohol is added
* In order to ensure that the rich taste of the cherries is maximized, the blend needs to rest and circulate for several months. 3-5 years later the product will be bottled. Some say that this is what adds that extravagance to the Cherry Heering Liqueur
Luxardo Cherry Liqueur
Luxardo’s second historical speciality after Maraschino Originale. It is a liqueur of marasca cherries (a sour cherry variety exclusively cultivated by Luxardo) – a variant of cherry brandy. It is obtained by the infusion of fermented marasca juice, matured for two years in oak vats. Luxardo cherry liqueur was renamed with the curious name of Sangue Morlacco (Morlacco blood) by the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio in 1919, at the time of the Fiume military expedition, due to its dark red colour (furthermore, the name “Morlacco” is derived from the name of a proud people of the Dalmatian hinterland).
Characteristics
* Colour: dark red
* Aroma: intense, inebriating perfume of marasca
* Taste: good body, very rounded on the palate.Quite different from normal cherry-brandies, both through the intensity of the cherry’s typical taste (here decidedly enhanced), and through the surprising expansion of the after-taste, which makes it priceless when combined with pure chocolate.
Schladerer Edelkirsch Cherry Liqueur
Schladerer fruit spirit liqueurs are genuine classics, by contrast to the many fashionable, low-proof liqueurs on offer today with their frequently strange taste combinations. As with all other products from our company, only the best raw materials are used, being processed with the utmost care. High-grade fruit juices, pure crystal sugar and the distillate from the individual fruit – these ingredients and the elaborate way in which they are combined guarantee a unique, fine quality. With their particularly agreeable consistency, these splendid liqueurs are not over-sweet, and develop their intensive and natural fruit-like flavor at 28 percent by volume. Schladerer fruit liqueurs are best served slightly chilled and neat in an Armagnac glass or Champagne flute. They make an excellent digestif after a meal. Although the delicate nature of Schladerer liqueurs make them ideal on their own, a tablespoon with Champagne or sparkling wine, then garnished with the corresponding fruit makes a delightful cocktail. Or add 1 oz. of liqueur to coffee for an after-dinner drink. In addition to being an after dinner drink, soaking fruit in Schladerer infuses it with flavor, or they can be poured over ice cream.
