That sounds really interesting Jim. Would you mind giving us some more details? What size bottle, how many berries, what proof, can it spoil, etc?

Most importantly, can we all come over?lol

jim, have you tried this with any other booze?
kay

You can find recipes for "cherry bounce" by Googling. They vary in the proportions of the ingredients but are basically alike. I believe cherry bounce was popular in the early days of our country. In those days it would have been made with rum. That's how those wild black cherries which are so prolific around southern New England came to be called "rum cherries". Brandy would be another good choice. So far I've only used vodka. I start with a half filled quart bottle (I'm doing this on a very small scale) of 80 proof vodka and add berries no more than half way up the bottle. That doesn't fill the bottle because of the spaces between the berries. I add a half cup of sugar (you may like more), which dissolves gradually over the course of a few days if shaken up daily.

I put this away in a cupboard until the winter holidays. That's a nice time to have it, although it doesn't take more than about a month to be ready. I decant the liquid and filter it through a coffee filter. It is very clear and colorful.

I see no possibility of spoilage if the alcohol content is high enough. Adding too much fruit could conceivably dilute the alcohol too much, but it would take a lot. I leave air space in the bottle, so botulism shouldn't be an issue. Yeast won't survive at that alcohol level. The sugar content acts as a preservative also, I believe. Both alcohol and sugar are dessicants. I have not seen any cloudiness or off odors that would indicate any spoilage. I suggest you do a bit of web searching to satisfy yourself on this question. The method is well established.

I have used only small berries, nothing very pulpy and no large fruit. I'm thinking of adding pomegranate to my repertoire and maybe cranberry. I would like to do an herbal liqueur a la Chartreuse, Benedictine or Galliano.

Jim

That sounds really fun Jim. Would be interested how the pomegranate works out if you give that a try.

I wonder if you can use this as a way to get more fruit in your diet. 1 drink = 1 portion, 2 drinks = 2 portions....Ha! Ha!

After that last post, I found some info on making pomegranate liqueur. According to that source, simply macerating (steeping in alcohol) the uncrushed berries, as I have been doing, may not work well with pomegranate. It seems that the skin of the pomegranate seeds does not allow osmosis of the juice. Maybe I need to do a very small test.

Of course, pomegranate juice is readily available, so maybe that could be used.

Jim

Jim, that doesn't surprise me. In fact, I was going to suggest that for both the pomegranates and cranberries, maybe you need to mush them up a bit. For the cranberries, I wonder if you will need to cook to get them to crack, then cool, drain, and use.

These sound wonderful and you have me thinking it should be a new project for me....

Ann

This is a super easy project the way I have done it with the small berries. There is practically no work to it at all. Just my kind of project. :-)

Jim

I made blackberry cordial last year, and plan to do so again this year. It is delicious! I have a bumper crop of elderberries developing I might try, too.

Jim, when you say rum cherries, do you mean pin cherries? We have quite a few ripe pin cherries just now in the yard...

Here is a link that might be useful: post on blackberry cordial on my blog Henbogle

I read your blog. Thanks for sharing it.

You might consider straining with coffee filters, which Jim mentioned using. Personally I would be concerned paper towels are too soft and fibrous. Coffee filters really result in a lovely clear liqueur. I use the big commercial ones sold for food-service urns.

The other option would be muslin.

Carol

"Jim, when you say rum cherries, do you mean pin cherries?"

I have come to realize that I have not correctly identified the wild cherries. I know them by the appearance of the trees but haven't attached the correct names in some cases. There are three, possibly four, which are familiar to me.

Black cherry (Prunus serotina) is a large tree from the forests of Pennsylvania from which we get cherry lumber, a very attractive wood for making furniture.

Pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) is a small tree. That is the one which is so abundant around here and from which I have harvested cherries for cherry bounce. I just checked near my house and found that birds have largely beaten me to the harvest.

Choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) is a large shrub. The fruit can be very astringent, although it varies from one plant to another.

So far as I can tell, all wild cherries are useful for making cherry bounce. The fruits of all are about 1/4" diameter and have more pit than flesh. Some are just more easily harvested than others. It would be difficult to pick black cherries from 70 foot tall trees in the forest. Picking from pin cherry trees can be done without a ladder if you aren't too short.

I'm still a bit uncertain about the taxonomy, but this is the best I can do right now.

Jim

"I made blackberry cordial last year, and plan to do so again this year. It is delicious! I have a bumper crop of elderberries developing I might try, too."

It's good to hear that. It reminds me to check on the elderberries. They would work well, I'm sure. They have a great color, but bland flavor, so I will add some sweet spices (cloves, cinnamon) and citrus rind (zest only, no white pith).

Sloe gin made from beach plums is another idea. Sloes are little wild plums. Gotta check to see if the beach plums are ready.

Jim

I've done this with berries as well.
My "recipe" makes a gallon....

Fill a gallon jar 1/2 full of fresh berries (rasp, black, strawb., etc.)
Add 1 lb. sugar, 1 fifth bottle of 100 proof vodka or Everclear.
Fill the jar the rest of the way with water.
Let sit for 30 days or more. Shake a little to stir occasionally.
Strain and bottle.

These make cute gifts bottled in decorative bottles.

It's very sweet, but great mixed with club soda, 7-up, or wine!

Deanna

I wonder if brandy would work with blackberries instead of vodka? (well, I would also do the vodka).

Lynn :)

Sure. Brandy would work very well.

I tasted the blackberry liqueur, which had macerated for less than a week. It already has good color and tasted great.

Birds have beaten me to the elderberries. :-(

Beach plums and some pin cherries have yet to ripen.

Jim

Sorry about the elderberries, Jim. I have lots, would you like to come and pick some? (grin)

My Aunt LulaBelle used to always make a rum pot or rumtopf and we'd open it for Christmas. She started with strawberries because those were the first fruit available. Wash the fruit and mix with an equal amount of sugar and let sit for an hour, then cover with rum and weight fruit down with a plate. Add more fruit as it becomes available, such as raspberries, peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, grapes, apricots, etc. Mix new layers of fruit with only half as much sugar and cover each layer with rum but don't stir. We found that blueberries and blackberries made an "icky" color and citrus was too sour to mix well with the other fruits, but we always ended with pineapple which we had to buy. Let is sit until Christmas, then drink the rum and use the fruit to spoon over ice cream or pound cake or just to eat by itself.

Aunt Ellen also used to make Cherry Bounce, I always liked the cherries better than the "bounce". (grin)

Annie