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Bourbon-Soaked Cherries: The Real Deal

I never knew there was a difference between the florescent-colored red maraschino cherries that you find in cocktails and a real bourbon-soaked cherry until I was at The Country Cat with my friend Joanne a few years back. She insisted on ordering a Manhattan with “real” cherries, and that I taste one of them right when the drink was delivered. They were amazingly good, and strong.

That experience reminded me of another, when a friend from West Virginia (we were living in Bend at the time) pulled a mason jar out of the top of her closet. The jar had a liquid in it the color of dark grape juice. When I asked her what was in it, she said, “moonshine. With plums.” Scared as I was, I tasted it – and it was very good. From what I can recall, it tasted like a fruity wine, and we finished the whole jar that evening (with friends, of course).

Getting to the point: I want to start putting up some fruit with liquor as the preservative. There are all kinds of ways to preserve the incredible fruits and vegetables coming out of our farmers markets these days, yet I think liquor should be one method that gets more attention.

This weekend I bought a whole bunch of cherries. They were $3.75/lb for both Bing and Rainier, so I got about 3 pounds. I asked the vendor how best to preserve them – do they freeze? how long do they last? what can I do to keep them?  His answer: eat them. Eat them all, and then you’ll get your fill of cherries for the season. They just don’t keep well frozen.

I wasn’t happy with his answer, so I’m gonna mix these babies with bourbon and keep them for weeks to come, like Maker’s Mark does. Here is my recipe:

Bourbon-Soaked Cherries

Yields 6 jars

Equipment and ingredients
1 canning kettle with rack
6 mason jars with new lids and rings
5 pints of cherries with stems removed (any fresh variety will work)
750 ml of your favorite Bourbon

1. Fill canning kettle with water and bring to a boil

2. Turn jars upside down and immerse them on the kettle’s rack

3. Pull jars out of the hot-water bath (use tongs or a dish towel) and fill with cleaned, unpitted  cherries

4. Pack each jar to the rim with cherries, leaving a 1/2 inch of space at the top

5. Pour whiskey into each jar, also to the rim, leaving some space at the top

6. Place canning jar lids over jar openings and screw rings tightly around lids

7. Allow jars to cool by setting them on a dry towel away from drafts. (cold air can crack the jars)

8. Once the jars reach room temperature, store in a dark, cool place for at least a few months. They will keep for years to come!

Serve in a Manhattan, over pound cake with whipped cream, or with a grilled pork tenderloin. Yum!

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