Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Cherry Bomb


You just never know, when you open it, which door will dump a bucket o' learnin' on your head.

Peeling garlic was an exercise in frustration till Julia Child taught me that crushing the cloves under the flat blade of a kitchen knife was so much easier (and satisfying). And I used to think that I had to lay out raspberries on cookie sheets to freeze them, a hideously tedious task, until Anthony Boutard told me that all I had to do was to put the hallocks from the flat directly into the freezer, then the next day take them out, give them a squeeze into a zip-lock bag and throw them back into the freezer.

So when I was talking with Nate Albrecht, the young fellow manning the Baird Family Orchards booth on opening day at the St. Johns Farmers' Market, and he said he couldn't wait to get home to make cherry whiskey, I saw that bucket coming and got out my notebook. He said that he likes bings because of the color they lend to the brew and that, while ripe cherries will work just fine, it's also a great use for those left over that you hate to waste.

Maresh Family Farm's Cherry Whiskey

Take a one-gallon glass jar with a lid and fill it 3/4 full of stemmed (but not seeded) whole cherries. Pour in 2 cups of sugar, then fill with whiskey. Cover with lid and shake to partially dissolve the sugar, then set in a cool, dark place. Shake every day or so, and after 2 to 3 months you'll have fabulous cherry whiskey.

7 comments:

EcoGrrl said...

really? no cookie sheet? i just froze 20 lbs of strawberries via the cookie sheet method, argh! but do they become one 'berry blob' that way?

Kathleen Bauer said...

According to Anthony, no. Worth a try on a basket, don't you think?

kimc said...

Not meaning to be impertinent, but what's a hallock? (And oh — the whiskey sounds like my cup of tea.)

Kathleen Bauer said...

Hallock is an old-fashioned word for those little boxes that berries come in, whether made of wood lath, cardboard or plastic. As in, "there are normally 12 hallocks in a flat of berries."

Anonymous said...

I've done similar with my blueberries for a long time now. I put them (dry) through a colander first to shake out the loose stem/leaf debris, and straight into freezer bags. Works great. Now I'll try with other berries - thanks for the reference!

The LaVya Initiative said...

OMG! Bings say hello to Jack Daniels. I can at last meld the once disparate worlds of my NW heritage and adult Southern residence.

Lorrie
http://read-n-eat.com/

Kathleen Bauer said...

I'm all for melding, Lorrie! Let me know how it turns out!