I like to celebrate cherry season with a Black Cherry Cocktail. Or five, if I really want to eat healthy.
I once had a French professor from South America. That in itself is a story that needs telling, but the part I want to get to, is that he used to tell us that the bananas we eat are so devoid of flavor, that he couldn’t be bothered with them. He said that local bananas are so different from those that are shipped intercontinentally, that the two seem unrelated. I found that hard to imagine – and still do. Bananas seem so delicious to me, and they seem to have such a distinctive flavor, that it’s hard for me to guess at what they’d be like if they were tons more flavorful. But, I have my own banana story, which is actually a cherry story. I spend the better part of each summer in cherry country, and pick up pints of black cherries from roadside stands along rolling hills of cherry orchards. They’re amazing. Back in Chicago, I’ll often see beautiful cherries in the market, and on occasion can’t resist buying them, only to find that they’re utterly devoid of almost any discernable taste. My fellow Chicagoans probably have a hard time understanding what I mean when I tell them that these cherries, and the ones I get from the orchards, seem unrelated.
One of the things I love about the Black Cherry Cocktail is its color. It’s darker than cola, but diluting the juice brings out its red undertones. Black cherries have a far more mysterious flavor than their tart, red cousins. They’re much sweeter (which is why people eat them out of hand) but their flavor is quite delicate (which is why you don’t often see pies or the like made from them). The flavor of this drink essentially is that of the black cherry, since the vodka contributes only a tiny alcoholic note, and the soda contributes mainly texture. So when you sip, you taste first sweetness, then a muted flowery note with clove somewhere distant in its background. Maybe there’s a hint of almond, but I couldn’t swear by it. By the time you’ve drained your cocktail, the cherries that have been steeping in it will be perfectly chilled; they’re especially delicious that way.
I’m not going to give you measurements for this drink, because in all honesty, I’ve never measured one. I will say, though, for planning purposes, that a 32-oz. jar of cherry juice will see you through about 10-12 cocktails.
Ingredients for one cocktail:
Ice
Fresh black cherries
Vodka
Black cherry juice
Club soda
Instructions:
Fill a rocks glass about 3/4 full with ice. Toss in two cherries, optionally pitted. Pour in 1 or 2 fingers of your favorite vodka. (More or less depending on how much you like vodka. Or drinking.) Add cherry juice, filling the glass about 1.5 fingers shy of full. Top it off with soda. Garnish, optionally, with a couple of speared black cherries, optionally pitted. At this point, you might gently stir it, maybe with the garnish. However, I don’t. I pour the ingredients into the glass somewhat vigorously and let that action accomplish the mixing. It’s inefficient. The drink tastes lighter at first, and progresses towards more intensity – but I enjoy it that way.
Notes:
- The cherries are prettier if they’re not pitted, and it’s fun to spit the pits at your friends. Half-way through your second cocktail, it’s hysterical, in fact. Obviously, though, it’s easier, less messy, and more polite to eat them pitted.
- The kind of juice you need for this cocktail is not the translucent type that looks like cranberry juice. It’s dark, opaque … even ominous looking. And expensive. Its only ingredient should be black cherries. No sugar, no other juices, no nothing. If you cannot find pure black cherry juice in your local market, come visit me before the end of summer.
- Black cherries take special pleasure in staining everything they touch, even if you swear the skin has never been punctured. Deliberately puncture the skin, and they will show you the true meaning of “stain.”
- If you buy black cherries that are firm, that means they’re not fully ripe. Not fully ripe means a less-sweet, underdeveloped flavor. Cherries will not improve after harvesting. When black cherries are fully ripe, they’re delicate and have remarkably short shelf lives, even when refrigerated. This is exactly the reason that the ones you find in distant markets are so bland, and the really good ones are on a roadside stand, just a few feet from the trees they grew on. Use this as an excuse to travel … and drink more cocktails.
Black Cherry Cocktail
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited, nor written in exchange for anything. We note with emphasis that miLam takes no sides in the Cherry Wars. However, we absolutely do side with The Cherry Hut, which is just a few years shy of celebrating its 100th anniversary. In doing research for this post, we came across a beautiful article that captures a slice of what it’s like to be in this part of the country.
EPILOGUE: as we were writing this post, we were thinking that because this cocktail was mixed with fruit juice instead of, say, Faygo Redpop, it had at least some kind of health benefit. It turns out, though – as we discovered literally just days after publication – that drinking fruit juice is not good for you. But (silver lining) eating whole fruit is. Thank God we included four whole cherries in this drink. Still in all, it takes no less than 20 cherries to make a single serving of fruit – and that’s according to Canadians, whom, even before these dark days, we’ve always trusted to be honest rather than minions of corporate interests – which means that to be completely healthy, you’d need to drink five of these cocktails. So … bottoms up.
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I remember picking cherries every year up at Aunt Margaret and Uncle Harry’s place on the lake in Kalamazoo and you’re absolutely right, it’s just not the same. Something about the freshness? The terroir? Who knows. I’ve never mixed them with vodka, I was a small child after all, but I’m sure Uncle Harry did. Sign me up. Salut!
I guess it’s like anything else – like a tomato from your own back yard, for instance – you just can’t beat it when it’s that fresh.
Simple to prepare and perfect for the summer parties 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Cheers!
angiesrecipes recently posted…No Bake Kiwi Cake – Vegan, DF, GF
Thanks, Angie. I hope you’re having a relaxing summer.
This looks great and I imagine it tastes absolutely fantastic! It is funny how fresh stuff can sometimes taste so much different. I love garden shell peas. The season is short and from the garden OR a good local farmer is the only way to get them. Sometimes they might have them in the store, but it is never, ever the same. I wouldnt even consider buying them “fresh” from the store.
Exactly. Now, if there were only a garden pea cocktail…
Five of these cocktails…? I’d be on the floor. 😉 But they do sound delightful. I love cherries, if they’re nice and sweet. The ones you buy at the store can be disappointing and now I know why!
Yes, I was joking, of course!
Interesting! I can’t say that I’ve stumbled across black cherries very often. I’m going to keep my eyes open for roadside stands now…or I might just show up on your doorstep! Keep one of these cold for me!
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You got it.
Jeff this sounds so great. I have a cherry tree in the back that might just still have enough cherries left on it to make one or five of these.
OK, I have tasted bananas sold from the road just by the trees they grew on in South America and Asia and your French professor is dead right. There is no comparison, but I still eat banana from Costa Rica here in Sweden.
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That is so interesting about the bananas. I love bananas, so I’m quite curious to know what a fresh one would taste like. One day, I’ll have to travel to South America just to find out.
Absolutely gorgeous, and I wish I had seen this post as we were in our wine country this past weekend and I only picked up one quart of cherries (not black though). They were super expensive so we just ate them raw and spat the pits at each other. No, we didn’t really, but I do have a grape story along the same lines (spitting, not flavour ;-)).
We were visiting my relatives in Hungary and we were invited to spend our last night at their cottage in the Lake Balaton region. My aunt was an avid gardener and grew many fruits and vegetables at the cottage, one of which was grapes. On the morning of our departure, she asked my husband (through me as he doesn’t speak Hungarian) if he would like some red or green grapes for the road trip, he said green. She immediately said, we only have red (strangely funny in itself). So we left with our stash of red grapes in our rented VW Golf. We began eating the grapes on the highway only to notice they had seeds in them, so JT being the fun-loving guy he is, opened the sun-roof and spat the seeds up and out. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, I started doing it too. We travelled for a week or so in that Golf. Fast forward to returning the car in Munich, we discovered that the seeds ricocheted back into the back seat and we had to sit for 30 minutes picking dried grapes seeds from the back seat.
That’s an awesome story!
I’ve been lucky enough to have bananas at the source, and they DO have more flavor than what we get. The deal is — from what I understand — is the bananas that are shipped here are all one species that were bred to withstand the rigors of shipping, and to ripen slowly. Flavor was optional. Although I’m with you — I find them mighty tasty! Anyway, neat drink. I don’t do much with fruit in cocktails (well, other than citrus) — I need to experiment more. Thanks!
John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Summer White Bean and Vegetable Stir-Fry
So interesting. I think that’s the same deal with most produce, unfortunately.
Incredible, I actually thought it was a Cola mix with cherries on top. It has a nice refreshing colour. The sun is out, I can try this drink soon.
Leo Tat recently posted…Do Lactase Lactaid Pills Work for Lactose Intolerance?
Yeah, isn’t that a gorgeous color? I think that contributes a lot to the pleasure of this cocktail.
You describe the taste so beautifully. I can imagine almond. I always taste a hint of almond in good cherries (the pit I think). But clove! Now that sounds intoxicating. GREG
Thanks, Greg. Once I heard a news story about two women in New York who were professional taste testers. The way they described taste was so extraordinary! I was – and still am – so envious.
I’ve been on a cocktail kick! Mostly gin, but my vodka is getting lonely. I think some cherries are just the thing to cheer it up!
Good for you for drinking gin! It’s fallen so far out of favor that it seems like it’s just begging to be rediscovered.
Cherry season is wonderful — I must admit I can’t see why you would buy cherry juice in a jar for any recipe when you can eat real cherries! But I like to get my alcohol from wine.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Love this! This is my kind of cocktail. John from Kitchen Riffs – he offers up beautiful cocktails that are way too strong! I don’t live in cherry country, so I have to squeeze the cherries sold in a bag. I want them hard but juicy, not soft and watery. Not always easy. I would love this cocktail. Do you use unfiltered cherry juice? I’ve also purchased cherry concentrate that I’ve used in sangria before. Also, if you have that many cherries, you might want to try making vodka with them. I’ve had the best luck making both strawberry and black cherry vodkas – then all you need is something bubbly like fresca! just an fyi.
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Well, Mimi, should you ever choose to vacation in the area, I’ll show you just about everything made from cherries. The juice I used was filtered. I’ll bet you could do something very interesting with cherry juice concentrate, but the ones I typically see are from sweet cherries. Black cherries are much more muted and mysterious. But enough about that … I have never made vodka! I would love to, though!
I agree with your professor about bananas. We lived in Santo Domingo for almost a year and I used to buy one banana from a street vendor for a snack when I went out walking. Let me say that if you ever get to taste one of those small deep yellow bananas you will know what he was talking about. I’m sure it is the same with the cherries. Your cocktail sounds wonderful, especially one you made from cherries picked hours before.
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You know, I’m going to have to put that on my bucket list! I’m going to visit a banana-producing country!
Going to buy black cherry juice tomorrow! I have some spiked cherries sitting in the fridge covered with Luxardo that keep getting better and better. I’m going to try them in this! Can’t wait!
Cool! I’ve never had Luxardo. I’ll bet it’s delicious!
This is such an amazing recipe! thank you for sharing this, this will be perfect in our backyard get together’s
I hope you enjoy it. So simple, yet so delicious.
Hey Jeff, nice post. Love cherry so will be making this beauty over the weekend. I currently have pitted cherries in my fridge soaking in Gin and 50 year old cherry brandy 🙂
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Wow, that sounds amazing!