Home Made Maraschino Cherries

Ingredients:

• 1# sweet cherries, washed & pitted* (reserve the pits)
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon ascorbic acid or Fruit Fresh
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon almond extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split & seeds scraped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh works best)
• 1/4 cup maraschino liqueur, preferably Luxardo**

Directions:

1) Sprinkle the ascorbic acid over the cherries and place them in a 1 quart container with a tight fitting lid.
2) Place pits in a plastic Ziploc type bag, cover the bag with a kitchen towel, and smash the pits with a hammer.
3) In a small saucepan place the smashed pits, vanilla bean pod & seeds, sugar, salt, water & lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat.. boil until the sugar & salt have dissolved. Remove from heat and let steep for 40 minutes, until it cools to room temperature.
3) Use a fine mesh strainer over a medium container with a spout to strain the syrup. Reserve the vanilla pod. Be careful to strain out all of the cherry pits, discard the remaining solids. Stir the almond extract & and maraschino liqueur into syrup. Syrup should be fairly thick & sticky.
4) Tuck the vanilla pod into the center of the container and pour the syrup over the cherries. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 5 days before using.
5) Cherries can be stored in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to 3 weeks.

* I remembered, too late that my cherry pitter is in storage ~ the next batch will be prettier! LOL. You should leave the stems on if you want to use them in drinks & for garnishing.
** If you prefer non-alcoholic cherries use 1/4 cup water in place of the cherry liqueur.

Source(s): Recipe & Photo by:  Deborah Holton Harvey