Recipe

Cherry Bounce

Accompanying newsletter: Cherries

Here’s an easy to make and tasty liqueur that—if you need an excuse—also happens to be an excellent medicinal remedy. To ease numb extremities, carpel tunnel syndrome, gout or arthritis, daily drink a jigger full of cherry bounce.

Makes 2 quarts

8 cups fresh sweet or sour cherries, with their pits
2 cups sugar (preferably rapadura, sucanat or other unrefined cane sugar)
2 cups (approximately) vodka, port, cognac, brandy or rum

Remove and discard cherry stems. Wash and dry the fruit and pack it into two glass quart jars. Add a cup of sugar to each jar and top with liquor of choice. Stir. Cover tightly and refrigerate or set in a cool cellar. Over the next few days, stir a few times or until the sugar dissolves. Let it age for 6 – 8 weeks. Strain before serving as a liqueur. Enjoy the cherries as a garnish or a little nibble.

Optional: add 1 teaspoon allspice, 1 teaspoon whole cloves and/or one stick of cinnamon to each jar.

May you be well nourished,

Rebecca Wood