Soaking fruit in alcohol and sugar has long been a way to stretch your favorites into the next season. These drunken cherries do just that. With about 15 minutes of overall prep, give these cherries a long soak (in a cool dark place, like your pantry or closet and let time and patience do the rest.
Don’t get weirded out on me. Have I ever steered you wrong? I know that this may remind you of a biology class where all manner of thing is pickled in formaldehyde, but that’s not what we’re doing here. Though these drunken cherries are going to get a good, long soak!
Prologue on drunken cherries:
My friend Nola has some tried and true recipes that she swears by! Like her sausage white bean and kale soup, the hearty green chili or those spicy dark chocolate truffles. In fact, when we were making the truffles, she mentioned her drunken cherries. My ears perked. I love cherries – probably my favorite fruit.
I wanted to make them right then, but it was February – no fresh cherries. I had to wait. So I’ve been anxiously drumming my fingers on the counter since then, waiting for cherry season to come around. Perhaps a small exaggeration. I did have it in the back of my mind, though. And on my calendar. July. Circled in black marker — “ask Nola for drunken cherries recipe”.
She stopped by the house with cleaned pickle and jelly jars and told me, there really isn’t a “recipe” per se – just approximations.
Her instructions were to trim the cherry stems to about half an inch, pack them tightly into a jar, pour in sugar to fill about 1/3 of the jar and fill the rest of the jar with vodka. Seal the lid tightly and shake until the sugar has dissolved. Then stick it in your closet for 6 months! Whaaaaa??? Yes. You heard right. This method is actually just a way to preserve fruit with alcohol.
She also advised me to rotate the jars every month or so. By the time they’re ready, the cherries will be utterly soused, about 1/2 of their normal size, and the vodka will be a gorgeous and Christmas-appropriate ruby red. The cherries will be perfect for holiday cocktails, spooned over sponge cake and ice cream or nibbling straight from the jar. You can even use the liquor as a syrup for drinks. Maybe a boozy cherry trifle? Don’t give me that look!
So these should be ready just in time for the holidays. I’ll just stick a bow on top and gift them to all of my lush friends — you know who you are!
see how transparent it is after the shake?
I promise to keep you updated on the progress of the fruit, but I think you should do this too! We can compare notes in December!
More boozy favorites you might like:
Drunken Cherries
ingredients
- cherries
- sugar
- vodka
Special Equipment
- several large clean ball canning jars, pickle jars or jelly jars with tight fitting lids
- small funnel
instructions
- Rinse the cherries and pick out any bruised or damaged fruit.
- Use a pair of kitchen sheers to trim the stems to about 1/2" long.
- Pack the cherries into a jar, filling it tightly and to the top.
- Use a funnel to fill the jar about 1/3 of the way with sugar.
- Fill the jar to the top with vodka and seal the lid on tightly.
- Shake and roll the jar in your hands until the sugar has dissolved.
- Place the jar in a cool dark spot for six months, rolling or shaking the jar every month.
Nutrition
Don’t Forget To “Pin It” For Later!
So I added a small amount of tart cherries, sugar to taste and some rum to a small jar that was washed in the dishwasher. About a quarter of the jar is filled….
Will this turn out or is it a recipe for disaster??
Do you have a smaller jar that you could fill it to the top with?
Hi Lisa, I do not have a smaller jar. Will it not turn out if it’s not filled to the top? Wondering if I should dump it and get some cherries from the store to start fresh…
As long as the cherries are covered with alcohol it should be ok.
I have been looking for fun ideas for gift giving this christmas becasue I just put some pitted sweet cherries in moonshine i had in my firdge for the past 5 years lol added sugar and a cinnamon stick to it. Hoping it turns out good!
I’ve just made this recipe and I tried a variation. Bourbon, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and pitted cherries. Excited to see how it turns out.
How about rainier cherries? Would they be good with vodka or rum? Or red wine?
You could use Rainier Cherries, they tend to be a little tangy and yes, you can use vodka or rum. I’m not certain how they’d do in wine.
Made one batch today (I did pit the cherries). Don’t think I have the stamina to pit another batch today but first batch is fermenting! I’m very excited, but I won’t cheat…wait til Christmas! I made lemoncello one year and was unimpressed so I have very high hopes for these! ?
Some of my cherries don’t have stems. Is it still okay to use those?
Absolutely! I only trim the stems in order to jam more cherries into the jar!
I had just cut n removed pits and soaked in some cherry berry juice with some icing sugar and lime when I stumbled across this recipe. So not letting that stop me I just jarred them up added some sugar and as cherries lacked flavour I added brandy cherry liquor and melon vodka… Can’t wait to try them. Thanks for the inspiration. Julie
Pitting the cherries is fine, but be aware it will really drain the color in 6 months, better to leave them whole for visual appeal
Yes, the color fades completely.
I made these back in August- just checked on them and they look great! Any cocktail recipes? Might crack a small jar for Thanksgiving. Save the rest fo Christmas!
This is a good one — though not on the blog yet: 2 ounces cherry infused vodka, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, .5 ounce simple syrup, 2-3 drops bitters – shaken in with ice for 30 seconds and strained into a coupe glass. Garnish with a strip of lemon peel and a few vodka soaked cherries.
Just wondering if the cherries would NEED the whole 6months? Perhaps 4 is enough??
Yes, you should be able to use them after 4 months. The sugar needs to be dissolved in the vodka, and the cherries will lose some of their color, but it makes the vodka a beautiful bright red color.
Excited about this recipe!
When I filled mine, the cherries all floated up to the top so that the top couple of cherries had some skin exposed to air at the top of the jar, and after a few weeks those parts have turned brown. I’m worried that since that part wasn’t soaked in the alcohol it could have rotted or grown something…
I don’t think it could rot because it’s submerged in alcohol — it’s pickled… But if there are one or two you’re unsure of, you can toss them. The jar should be FILLED with the vodka, though.
I soaked unpitted cherries in brandy 25 years ago. The seal is in great shape so I’m not so worried about spoilage bacteria, but what about the amygdalin in the pits that converts to cyanite in your stomach. Would the amygdalin be extracted out of the pits by the brandy over the 25 years of storage making the alcohol dangerous to drink? I’hate to just throw it all away. Any help?
25 years, you say?! Wow! I’ve heard about the amygdalin before. I would think that if the pits are still intact it would be ok to drink/eat the cherries (not pits). But I don’t have a chemistry or medical degree, so there’s that.
I soaked pitted cherries in vodka for the 6 months for cherry cordial. Then I took the cherries drained on paper towels to air dry. I then dipped them in chocolate for boozy chocolate covered cherries. OMG !!!!
I eat low carb. Id love to do this with rum and cherries only-no sugar. Would that work? And Id like to give as gifts. How long until edible? And as long as refrigerated, how long would they last with no sugar added?
I’ve never tried it without the sugar, but there’s enough sugar in this recipe that it probably wouldn’t be the same if you left it out… The sugar lends a syrupy quality that wouldn’t come through if you just soaked cherries in alcohol.
Could you use these cherries for a black forest cake to give it more flavour but change the alcohol to brandy ??
You could certainly use brandy, but for Black Forest Cake, you wouldn’t need to soak the cherries for nearly as long. Maybe just a few days…
Could this be done with any other fruit? Say peaches?
I’m assuming you mean, peeled and quartered or sliced peaches and not the whole fruit. You probably could, but they wouldn’t need to soak for 6 months… Maybe a week would be sufficient.
I put cherries in vodka several years ago and then stored in the fridge. Now I’m wondering if they are still safe to eat. Thoughts? Thanks!
Vodka is alcohol and germs don’t grow in alcohol. I would think it would be safe to eat, but kind of curious how they’d taste.
Just discovered this recipe, I love cherries and I like my booze sweet, this looks amazing, would like to try can I add 1/2 a vanilla bean to the jar before sealing it?
That sounds fabulous!
These sound amazing! Is it ok to pit the cherries before putting them in to soak?
You could, I suppose, but we never have.
Hi.
Great recipe but want to also try a dark rum, dark sugar variant. Will dark rum work?
Yes, you should be able to do that. Sounds good.
We recently bought 20 lbs of tart cherries from a local farm market. I snagged some that didn’t get into recipes or freezer bags and soaked them in Pinnacle Whipped Cream vodka for the weekend.. Left them tart and sweet. May have to try it on the 6 months plan…..
Jealous of your farmers market — the whipped cream vodka sounds great!
Would love to get your thoughts on something! There’s a super fancy restaurant near me that finishes the meal with these delicious chocolate-covered brandied cherries and they talk about how the cherries marinate for 6 months. Every few years I call to buy some from them but they are crazy expensive (and actually eating there is even more expensive!). Sounds like maybe this recipe could be the base of it and then I’d just have to figure out how to chocolate-cover them after the marinating? I just deconstructed one while eating it. They do have a definite burst of brandy liquor inside the chocolate shell, in addition to the cherry itself – which is shriveled and yellow in color with pit still inside – having a pronounced boozy taste. Would love to figure out how to make these myself as it would be a huge money saver and a great gift to give folks.
Well, that sounds AMAZING! I would think you could do the same thing with brandy as I’ve done with the vodka in this recipe. Covering them with chocolate would be the trick. You’d need to temper the chocolate and thoroughly dry the cherries before dunking so that it would adhere to the cherry. Plus, when you introduce water to melted chocolate it can seize, ruining the chocolate, so perhaps rather than dunking the cherry, you’d want to pour the chocolate over the cherry.
Years ago I used to make cherry cordials . We soaked the cherries in brandy lime this , dried them off then popped them in fondant ( not the kind you roll out on cakes ) then dipped them
In chocolate. You have to have a waterproof shell so for the chocolate to adhere to The booze will melt the fondant inside of the chocolate shell
What is the purpose of cutting the stems back? I recently tried a different recipe with sugar and bourbon, left the stems on and pitted the cherries. Also, heated the liquor just until the sugar was dissolve. Tried one jar after a week, couldn’t wait, and they tasted good, but didn’t seem to have any kick. Did I cook the alcohol away? Going to try your recipe next time!
Trimming the stems allows you to stuff more cherries into the jar, while still giving a small “handle” to grab them. You may have dissipated some of the alcohol by simmering, but I think you just need to give it more time. These cherries actually leech their color into the vodka the longer they sit — & they are POTENT.
I did this last year and we waited six months to use and holy cow they pack a punch! I used 180 proof vodca from Russia and I might just have to make more
Can you tried using frozen cherries?
I’ve never used frozen cherries before. If you do it, I’d start with a small batch so you’re not wasting a lot of ingredients in case it doesn’t work.
I have several jars of boozy cherries in my fridge. I didn’t use sugar because the cherries were so sweet. I decided to puree some of them (using just a bit of the liquid) and now I’m not sure how to use the puree. Just looking for ideas…
You could do several things — if you don’t want to add sugar — you could use it as a sauce over pork chops or chicken– you might need to flavor it with some spice or add some chopped apples or golden raisins to it and simmer until thick, then spoon it over the meat of your choice. If you add a bit of sugar and cook it down, it might be good over ice cream or pound cake. And of course, you could add it to a cocktail or frozen cocktail! Hope that helps!
What lind of cherries are you using? Sweet cherries or the tart pie cherries? I have two pie cherry trees. The sweet cherries don’t grow around here and are exoensive to buy.
Hi Marti — I am using sweet bing cherries in this recipe… I’ve actually never come across tart pie cherries in my market before. I sure would like to try them…
My gallon jar is half full of cherries! I’m taking a break to double check the recipe. ?? Omg I can’t wait till Christmas! Now back to pulling stems ?
You go, girl!
Hi Lisa, I had enough cherries to make three GALLON jars of infused vodka this year! I squished them up and they’re soaking away…I did not remove the pits. I see that you don’t, either. I’m trying to find any resources that talk about potential cyanide poisoning from the pits, but can’t seem to find anything significant. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!
You’re going to have a cherry bonanza!!! After some sleuthing, I came across this article https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/foods-that-can-kill-you. My recommendation: don’t eat the pits.
If I use brandy…same procedure? Why soo much sugar??
Hi Pat – I would think you can use whatever type of alcohol you like. I found an article with more detail about this type of preserving… essentially, the sugar preserves the fruit and the alcohol eliminates bacteria or other harmful microbes. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22appe.html
Can’t wait to try this. Going to pick cherries in the morning
Here in Door County Wisconsin, cherry capital of Wisconsin, these are called cherry bounce and can be made with brandy, vodka or any booze that you like. If you remove them from the liquid and put in zip lock bag, you can sneak them into a Packer game as a snack.
Definitely want to tailgate with you, Bob!
Mine shriveled up and the skins
were very tough. Anyone know why? The vodka was great though
They do shrivel a bit and the color leaches into the vodka – almost giving the cherries a pale white color — Not the prettiest things, but darn tasty!
I marinate mine in bourbon – then dip in white chocolate and roll in colored sugar for holidays. what is a brownie bomb?
First time I tried these I put them in vanilla vodka, omitted the sugar, only steeped for 24 hours then dipped each half way in white chocolate and then the bottom third in white chocolate died blue (stem on). They looked festive and were a huge hit with the ladies at our 4th of July party. Next day I decided to refill the jar and the cherries have been stewing since. Think I’ll try them in brownie bombs for the holidays. Yum!
That sounds like it would be a big hit for the ladies party! Invite me to your holiday party!
I’ve done this for years following my Italian grandfather’s “recipe”. This year I made two batches. The first batch looks “normal”. The second batch seems to be bubbling and heaving in the Ball jars a little. (I ferment my own cabbage for sauerkraut, so I recognize the signs. Why would this be happening? And do you think they will be OK?…Or should they be binned?
I would personally rather be safe than sorry. I’d toss them.
I think I’m going to try this with chocolate vodka.
Let me know how it is!
Approximately how many pint jars can you make with a fifth??
Interesting question. It’s not an exact science. To be safe, I would have 6-8 pint jars in case. Fill the jars with cherries to the top, then add sugar and fill the rest with the liquor. It’s going to depend on the amount of cherries you have — and I don’t use pint jars for this… I use big oversized pickle jars… LOL!
Can you do them with any liquor? Let’s say honey Jack or rum?
I imagine you could, though I’ve never tried it. If you do — let me know how they are!
Is one able to seal this recipe in a hot water bath?
I suppose you could, but I don’t think it’s necessary– they’re packed in vodka!
Do the jars have to be sterilized? How do they keep? How about after opening? Is the alcohol enough to keep them safe?
I didn’t sterilize the jars — I mean, they’re filled with vodka – that should be sterile enough, right?! They keep fine, but the red cherry color is dying the vodka (as well as flavoring it). My friend Nola tells me after they’re opened — they get eaten pretty quickly. I wouldn’t think you’d have to refrigerate them — because they’re basically pickled.
Running to the store to buy cherries NOW, seriously these look amazing + love how you can mix them up in drinks and other delicious goodies!
Sounds like a good excuse to get together over the holidays!
This is gorgeous. Mom does something very similar, but she removes the pits and stems and adds some spices to the mix.
I hear there is another liqueur that is made just with the stems. Not sure I’d care for the taste of that one, though.
These look great!
It’s going to be a very merry little Christmas!