It’s Cherry Bounce Time
It’s that time of year in Wisconsin when the Door County cherries are ripe and ready for savoring, baking, freezing and making into Wisconsin traditions like Cherry Bounce!
Cherry Bounce is said to go back to the time of George Washington, who reportedly carried it along on his travels. Whether that is fact or fiction, a flask of Cherry Bounce would be a welcome item on a cold winter day!
Traditional recipes call for tart cherries and sugar. I prefer to make mine with a variety of three types of cherries, two sweet and one tart, in equal quantities. This year I purchased some fresh Door County Cherries at the Dane County Farmer’s Market. They had traditional sweets, white sweets and tarts all ready for enjoying the day I picked these beauties up for my Bounce project. I managed to eat several of on the way home before starting my project, and was pleasantly surprised at the sweetness of this year’s tarts.
A cherry pitter makes this somewhat messy and tedious job go more quickly and may just save your teeth from those sly little pits hiding in the cherries. Some recipes call for smashing the cherries with the pits intact, but because I like to use the cherries once strained from the bounce, I prefer to simply pit them before adding the cherries to the bottles or jars. That eliminates the need for smashing as well, and your infused cherries look much prettier than smashed ones. This is one of those kitchen tools that is not really necessary, but sure comes in handy at least once a year!
If you collect or save bottles and jars they come in handy for home made liqueurs. For Cherry Bounce containers with larger openings make placing the cherries into the jars or bottles easier and less messy. I chose two different bottles for two different liquor bases…I used vodka and bourbon this year. The vodka went into the growler and the bourbon into the 360 bottle. This way I will know which is which later once they look the same after the cherry infusion.
Once you have filled the jars with equal amounts of each type of cherry, simply pour in your favorite liquor: vodka, gin, rum, brandy, bourbon…whatever you prefer. And don’t use the cheap stuff…use what you normally drink for cocktails like Martinis and Manhattans. Traditionally in Wisconsin brandy is used, as Wisconsin is rumored to have the highest per capita brandy consumption in the US. I find brandy to be a bit too sweet with the cherry infusion, so I go with my summer and winter favorites, vodka and bourbon.
Now comes the hard part…chill and allow to infuse for three months, or until the holidays when you can strain the liqueur and pour into fancy bottles to give away as gifts, or just keep it for your own private stash! And don’t throw away those infused cherries when you strain the liqueur – they are delicious on ice cream or just on their own as a garnish for your Cherry Bounce Cocktails! Cheers!
