Brandied Cherries

Each summer, for a short window, orchards positively drip with ripe sweet cherries – blushing yellow Raniers and Bings such a dark maroon they almost look black.  If you’re blessed with an abundance, take the time to make homemade brandied cherries.

These boozy, fragrant, vibrantly fruity cherries add flavor to homemade cocktails and drinks. And their flavor only improves with time, so make them this summer and tuck them into a cupboard until Christmas time arrives.

Jump to Recipe | What are they? | Making Brandied Cherries | Storing | Serving Suggestions

What are brandied cherries?

Brandied cherries are boozy, sweetened fruits that you make by soaking fresh cherries in a combination of rich syrup and brandy. They taste richly sweet, delightfully alcoholic and, like homemade root beer, are a hallmark of authentic, early American cookery.

At their simplest, Brandied Cherries need only a handful of ingredients: cherries, brandy and sugar.   And most early American recipes call only for those simplest ingredients. You can also add spices, if you like. Vanilla pairs particularly nicely with cherries.

Soaking fruit in sweetened alcohol was a popular way of preserving cherries, peaches and other stone fruit before refrigeration and water bath canning became widespread.

Making Brandied Cherries

To make brandied cherries, you’ll begin first by trimming the stem of cherries or removing them completely. Next, prepare a rich syrup with sugar and water. Simmer the cherries in the syrup for a few minutes, and then transfer them to a jar. Whisk the syrup with brandy, and then pour it over the cherries and seal the jar.

Before you make your first batch, there’s a few helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Select only the ripest, best fruit. Blemished fruit, over-ripe or under-ripe fruit make for poor preserves.
• Trim the stem. Most early American recipes call for keeping the stem on the cherry and trimming it short.
• Prick the cherries once with a toothpick. You’ll simmer the cherries for a few minutes in a hot rich sugar syrup, and pricking them should prevent them from bursting.
• Try substituting cherry juice for water. While not an authentic ingredient, it can amplify the flavor of your brandied cherries.
• Keep the sugar content high. It’s tempting to cut the sugar in the recipe (who needs more sugar, right?), but sugar acts as a preservative in this recipe – just like alcohol.

How Should You Store the Cherries?

Traditionally, cherries were preserved in brandy in the summer and stored at room temperature or in root cellars until winter. The high sugar content and the high alcohol content helped to preserve the foods and keep them safe.

Early American cookbooks like  Miss Corson’s Practical American Cookery (1886) and Aunt Babette’s Cookbook (1889), recommend simply sealing the cherries in a jar and that’s it.

By contrast to traditionalists, modern preservers often use less sugar and recommend storing brandied cherries in the fridge or canning them in a water bath for about 10 minutes, increasing that time at higher elevations.

Serving Suggestions

You can add brandied cherries to cocktails like Manhattans, or sip the cherry liqueur on its own. I also like to add a shot of the liqueur and a cherry or two to homemade kombucha, and it’s also nice added to cherry water kefir. You can also use the cherries to garnish desserts, in crêpes, or eat them on their own.