Preserving cherries for later, for generations to come.
“My top way of eating cherries is a bowl of cherries. If good, they need no adornment, other than perhaps a glass of pink champagne.”
Fergus Henderson.
Before the second world war there were about 40 000 acres of cherry orchards in Britain. These were mainly in Kent, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
The past 50 years however 90 % of these cherry orchards have disappeared.
The labour was very intensive as the trees were very high, too high to cover the crop from the birds. I were mostly women who harvested the cherries on high ladders with baskets tied to their waists.
To tackle this problem nowadays and to revive cherry growing, dwarf plants are planted to replace the towering trees. The dwarf trees are covered with netting so the birds can’t steal the crop and the orchard has a maximum yield.
The people from Food Lovers Britain have started ‘CherryAid’, a campaign to point out to the supermarkets and consumers that the British cherry needs our attention and preservation. Since the campaign started most of Britain’s biggest supermarkets like M&S and Tesco are selling British cherries and Waitrose has stated that imported cherries will be phased out completely for the five week the British cherry season.
So it’s fair to say, British cherries are on their way of being saved for future generations.
Britain however is not the only country in danger of loosing their native fruit, in Belgium you can’t even get Belgian cherries in the supermarket. You find them rarely at the market. A lot of cherry growers in Belgium leave their crop rot on the trees because it’s too expensive to pick them for the price they will get for them. Such a shame that the most famous ‘Schaerbeekse cherry’ has been lost for ever, this was the variety used for the typical Belgian cherry beer. Instead of finding another Belgian cherry, most of the breweries choose to import the cherries from Poland. Only a small number of cherries used for the beer today are Belgian.
Most of you will try and buy ‘local’ or British cherries, I’m sure.
I love how the cherry season transforms the roads of Kent with cherry
signs and little stalls packed with punnets of cherries. The sellers
sitting there, usually seeking shelter from wind and rain under a bright
umbrella, reading a book.
Below some interesting links to explore:
Brogdale farm has an annual Cherry festival celebrating the British cherry and
Food Lovers Britain – ‘CherryAid’ a campaign to put British cherries back on the map.
Great British Food Revival Cherries and Walnuts
Rent a cherry tree
Cherries come in two types: sweet and sour. My mum and I used to make this cherry brandy and the recipe is handed down by my grandmother. For cherry brandy it’s better to use the sour variety however you can use the sweet ones and slightly decrease the sugar you use. Or not, if you like it very sweet!
So what about you? What do you like to brew?
What do you need
cherries: 1kg
Eau de vie or Vodka: 1liter
sugar: 300 g
sterilised jars
Method
• rinse the cherries well
• cut of the stalks leaving 1cm still on the cherry, that way the brandy will keep longer as
the cherries stay nice and firm.
• layer the cherries with the sugar
• pour over the alcohol and close the jar
• put in a dark place at room temperature and shake every day for a week
• forget about the cherries until christmas or thanksgiving!
I have jars that date back to 1999, these cherries are very very strong!
Enjoy in a little glass or why not with a scoop of ice cream…
You might also like
Strawberry and Pimm’s granita drink
Blaeberry pie
Please leave a comment, I love reading them!
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
Tragic! Hopefully all cherry orchads will not disappear… Here, you can buy Swiss cherries in stores but they are sooooo expensive. As a matter of fact, I didn't buy any this year. :-(((
Oh, love drunken cherries! They remind me of my Swiss grandparents. My grandmother canned tons of cherries and we always had some for dessert (with meringue and thick cream), no matter the season.
Cheers,
Rosa
I hope you'll be able to have some this season! x
My mom would make the cherry brandy each year for Thanksgiving. One year even us kids got to have a taste, mom made a toast and we took a sip. It was just water!! Mom was enraged and called Celestine (our live in maid) to how this had occurred. Celestine said she would take a sip from time to time for her aching back !!
Oh lovely cherries Regula with Eau de Vie. My French Grandmaman made them like this with the sour cherries from the garden. In the winter a jar was opened and a cherry and some "juice" served in a liqueur glass along with a tiny cup of mokka.
Sad about the Belgian cherries.
Hugs
Karin
Yes indeed, we also had them in those small liqueur glasses! 🙂
I love the sound of this! I love cherries, how they stain your lips a sexy red, how you pull it off the stalk with your teeth and spit the pit out after, how sweet it is. Ah, and drunken cherries, even better. Also, loving the photos and graphic texts, as always.
thanks! 😉
How delicious, one of my loveliest memories from childhood is moving into a new house and discovering a cherry tree in the garden absolutely laden with fruit. Imagine two young girls with cherry stained faces, we were in heaven!
What a lovely discovery to make! I have a cherry tree, I have a only a handful of cherries each year!
this is really interesting, and bravo to the English supermarkets for their effort to preserve the English cherries.
I don't think we have such an issue in Italy, but it's so sad to see cherries from Chile or Spain when we could ave our own produce!
Lovely way to preserve summer, I'd love a spoonful of your cherries with a fiordilatte ice cream!
Indeed, I think it's so great that the Brits make an effort to preserve their heritage!
Love that you opened this post with a quote from Fergus Henderson! I knew you & Juls would love him! 😉
I only buy British cherries, so I have only a small window of opportunity to eat them in. But this is a fab way of preserving them and I don't know why I haven't done so before. I make all sorts of other fruit liqueurs, but have not thought of using cherries – bah!
Oh you'll have to make it while you still can! British cherries are so so delicious!
Informative post Regula. Good that British supermarkets have agreed to sell only British cherries during the season. I had no idea that the cherry used to make cherry flavoured Belgian beer is no longer grown in Belgium – what a shame!
As always, beautiful photos Regula 🙂
Thanks Jacqueline, it's such a shame when varieties disappear due to cheap imports from other countries.
I like this rcp, thank you ,
it is just the one my mum was making in olden days with the different she let the jar for sometime in the sun
lovely article,have just picked eight pounds of goergeous cherrys fron my secret roadside location they are out there now you just need to have a eye out,seek and you will find.
I live just off 'Cherry Holt Road' in south Lincolnshire. Not quite as many cherry trees along it's mile length but still plenty. I've picked 8kg of gorgeous, juicy, ripe cherries in the last 2 evenings from just one tree. It's been a great conversation maker – total strangers have stopped to see what I'm doing and what I'm going to make with them. Made 4kgs of cherry jelly jam this morning and have just cooked down another 4kgs to add to 1.5l of vodka. Recipe says to leave in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks. 4 weeks!!! Actually I think we'll try some tonight …
Let me know how it tasted 😉 I sometimes make a jar to keep and one to open 🙂
Not quite as many … as there used to be …re
. previous post
Jeanette 27/7/13
Ladies, I live in Somerset and some of the the parks have clusters of cherry trees also in quieter areas – there is one outside the school – just look up . My friends can't believe I pick so many -a friend and I picked 12lbs last week, and another 4lbs today -they are free.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have a large, fan trained Morello cherry tree in my garden. This year we have a huge harvest. Beautiful shining cherries. I can only make so much jam, lovely though it is, and any sour cherry recipe's are welcome. If I am successful with this we will be thinking of you again around Christmas time. Best wishes. "Cherry Pie" Sidcup Kent.
If you are fortunate to have so many cherries, you will be able to make little cherry brandy jars for the whole family as chritmas presents!
I have often made similar cherry, and other fruit, brandies, but I have always thought of it as "brandying fruits" and the flavored brandy as an after-thought or side-benefit. Perspective is so interesting. BTW, love the cat! I have a thing for black cats. Probably good I am allergic or I'd be a neighborhood sensation with black cats everywhere, lol. Christina
I have a morrello cherry tree, this year i have had a bumper crop i have took pounds into work for the chefs to work their magic. But i also wanted to make some thing for me & friends. Instead of brandy i have used gin cannot wait for the time i can taste. mmmmm
I am about to try your recipe. I live in Australia and so I am not too sure when you pick your cherry so I was wondering how long should I leave the cherries for? I just love cherry brandy and my mother and I love brandied cherries…win win if you ask me!
I can't wait to try this. I live in Seattle. I'll be using local cherries and some from my garden.
Hello from Betty Boops in the south of France, (near Béziers)
I have four cherry trees and was looking to make a cherry brandy, found yours and this afternoon (4th june 2014) we shall make at least six jars. Hope they last long enough till xmas, its something we eat a lot of down here. Thanks again for your recipe. When tasted Ill let you know what they thought. Take care.
Hi there from Betty in the South of France. I was looking for a recipe using cherries & brandy, but you use Vodka or eau-de-vie for fruits. Yours sound every so good, so this afternoon we shall be making at least 6 jars of cherries. We have 4 cherry trees in our garden and I just love to have them as you say, in a small glass after coffee. Will let you know how they go. Thanks again, Betty.
Mmmm…this looks delicious!
it's 2am, thunder and dramatic lightening outside, across the sea, and I've just made 2 large jars of cherry brandy. I chose your recipe because it had more brandy in it! something to look forward to now! thanks
Is it normal for the cherries and juice to fizz when I open the canning jar?
I used cherry kirsch as the alcohol and they have been in a cupboard for about a month
Hi, that doesn't sound normal to me. I think the cherries might be producing yeast and they are starting to ferment. I think you maybe didn't use enough sugar or your alcohol wan't strong enough. Good luck!
Love it!!!
*****
You 5 stars from me 😉
giving it a go! also trying an apricot liqueur with some dried mixed fruit added to enhance the flavour.
About to try this….it does look fabulous. I think a Brisbane Christmas definitely needs a shot of drunken cherries! Ciao, Robyn. P.S. have a squizz at my blog….Paris Rendez-Vous and Beyond….address is http://parisallons-y.blogspot.com
Love this site! We had a bumper crop of Bing cherries last summer, so I made cherry bourbon, brandy, & vodka. I used a similar recipe to yours, after researching many recipes that called for leaving the pits in. Now I'm reading that pits can leach cyanide into the liqueur. Have you heard of this and do I need to worry? I'm ready to strain the liqueurs now. Thank you!
Hello from Oregon! I am about to make some preserved cherries & have been comparing a few recipes to get the best average; I noticed that some use brandy and others use vodka (such as yours). My question is if you know what differences there are with these two?
Can’t wait to try your cherries. Do they need to set for a week? Would like to make them as a 60th birthday present, and the celebration is in two day.
Hello! Good luck with the recipe, they are not ready after two days though, they need to soak for weeks, months even better. I open them at christmas!
after making brandy can i freeze the cherries
yes you can!
I used your recipe before and when trying to find it again all I could remember was a red polkadot frock. cherries are ripe in the garden so here I go again. Thanks, my family love the Drunken Cherries i made and still have some in the pantry. (Spanish cherries as i live in Spain and lots of them as we have 7 trees)
Glad you found me again, if you never want to be looking for this blog, you can always leave your email on the right hand side of this webpage, that way you will get an email from time-to-time with new posts!
I live in Wenatchee, Washington, we are the apple capital of the world, we also grow tons of cherries, pears, apricots nectarines, and peaches.
I was brought 2 bags of beautiful sweet cherries by my daughter in law, her grandfather owns an orchard.
I ate half a bag and i suddenly thought ” Cherry brandy!!!!!”
Im going to try your recipe,
Ive made sloe gin before, im thinking it cant be much different to make.
I didnt know about the cherry situation in the UK, even though i am from there. I Just knew they were expensive.
My father and I made these over the summer, and four months later (on Thanksgiving) we tried them for the first time. OH MY! So good. Super strong just as we had hoped, and the cherries stay so nice and firm, even a bit crisp. Perfect! (We used Bing Cherries in season). Thanks!
Plenty of ćherries in Western France this year, I’ve put some in alcohol to macerate for a month to make cherry liqueur. Looking forward to the result. Might also try Crème de Cerise, like Crème de Cassis, made with red wine, cherries, sugar and a small addition of clear alcohol.
looking at the recipe…starts out saying this is the recipe for cherry brandy and then uses vodka to make it with, I am confused.
Thanks for your question, the term “brandy” also denotes liquors obtained from distillation of any other fruit or vegetable. These products are also named eaux-de-vie. Vodka is made from potatoes!
When I was a youngster I attempted to make cherry brandy. I don’t recall add vodka, but we layered sugar / cherries/sugar/cherries up to the top of a jar and let it sit in a closet for several weeks. When we opened the jar there was a foam on the top which concerned us. As we were pouring the concoction down the drain we got a wif of the most delicious alcoholic beverage which the. In hindsight we thought we could have tasted. But, alas it was too late. Can brandy be made without adding the vodka?
Dear Fran, I think it’s probably good you never tried it as it could have been dangerous! Adding the alcohol will reduce the danger of poisoning yourself.
I might seem particularly stupid but you don’t mention drinking the brandy? Just eating the cherries?
Not at all! YES you can drink the brandy! Nice is to put a cherry in each glass then fill with brandy – but use small glasses, like the smalles you have, tiny!
Hi, I’m about to try this recipe but only have cherries which were frozen fresh when I bought them earlier this year (only just come across this recipe). Can these be used for this? I realise they would have to be thawed first.
Hi Sav, I haven’t tried this but I think it wouldn’t matter too much as long as they got the stones in and aren’t damaged. Good luck and report back! x
Hi
Am emailing from France we have 5 amazing cherry trees full of ? picking them now but freezing them but will make cherry brandy as you suggested looks lovely
I need a cherry picker as many are wasted too high to pick worth 4 euros a punned in the supermarket have well over a 1000 from the trees
Hi, interesting to read about the cherries. I was wondering can you use brandy? I don’t have anything else!!
No you really need to use an alcohol with enough alcohol percentage or it is unsafe
Hi.
A friend of mine forwarded me your website and I am thrilled!
My late mother made numerous jars of cherry brandy.
It was probably around 1985 to 1990.
I still have many small mason jars and a few
large beautiful full jars. She used fresh
cherries, vodka and sugar. I am wondering
if it is “ safe” to serve/drink?
I can’t remember if the seeds are in the cherries.
Also, one large jar was opened years ago
to serve some. Is the remainder of that jar
safe to serve?
I have wonderful memories of my mom making
cherry brandy. I just don’t want anyone to
get sick from it!
I do have my own cherry tree now!
I had buckets full this past few summers.
I will definitely make cherry brandy next
summer. But what do I do with my mothers
many jars?
Please let me know how long it lasts and
if any of it can be unsafe.
Thank you!
Lisa .
Hi Lisa, if the content of the jar looks good, meaning there are no bubbles no separation and the liquid is quite even I think it might still be good, it depends if your mum used the hight alcohol percentage to make it. I can’t be sure of course, no one can be. So take great care.
We’ve inherited a cherry orchard and have so many cherries we don’t know what to do! I’m definitely making this recipe to start with, though. Thank you.