Zombies Stock Shelves of Local Grocery Store!!! - Maraschino Cherries

OK, now that I have your attention...   ;)

Back in the olden days (pre-prohibition) a Maraschino cherry was a Marasca cherry soaked in Maraschino liqueur from Dalmatia.  Then prohibition happened and screwed everything (not just cherries) up.  You see, when prohibition was repealed the FDA decided that importing Maraschino cherries from Italy & Croatia was hurting the American Cherry growers.  SO, as the FDA is want to do when money is involved, they redefined what a maraschino cherry was.  Meaning an artificially flavored, dyed cherry "product".  Thus rendering it about as natural as Cheese Whiz. 

Let me give you a quick rundown of the current process in the U.S.  My grandmother worked for the Cherry Growers in The Dalles so I have seen it all my life and, consequently, haven't eaten an American Maraschino Cherry since I was about 7.   First, the perfectly delicious cherries are soaked in a combination of sodium metabisulfate, calcium chloride, with a hint of citric acid for weeks.  During this process they loose ALL their flavor & color, turning completely white.  Yep, they become Ghost cherries....  Mere shadows of their original selves, devoid of anything that could possibly identify them other than their shape.

Next they are soaked in corn syrup and fructose solution;  MMMMM cause they have to add some sort of sweetness back to them.  Then, as if that wasn't enough, they are packed into jars along with the appropriate amount of artificial flavoring in a pathetic attempt to copy the flavor of a Marasca cherry from Dalmatia, which is sort of a Cherry/Almond type of flavor.

Finally, to add insult to injury, these zombie cherries are dyed red or green (though this usually occurs during the corn syrup/fructose soaking).  Originally they were using Red 4, which was banned in 1960, but the ban was lifted in 1965 specifically for Maraschino Cherries because they were not considered an actual food.  I'll say!  Be that as it may, most companies have since moved to Allura Red 40, which on the whole isn't that much better, but still a little safer than Red 4 which has been banned from cosmetics completely due to it's carcinogenic effects.

So I propose making your own Maraschino cherries.  It's quite simple really.  All you need are cherries and some Maraschino Liquor (which is made from Marasca cherries).  :)    They may not be as pretty a shade of neon red when your done, but they will taste 100% better than the zombie cherries.  Technically, you should be using a sour cherry, but this works just as well with sweet ones too.

 

Maraschino Cherries

Bing Cherries (though sour cherries work better)
10 oz jelly jars
1/8 tsp Citric acid /Sour Salt per jar (Omit if using sour cherries)
Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
Lids for jelly jars
a Refrigerator

Simply wash the cherries.

Pit the cherries with the pitter, keeping as many stems as possible.

Stuff into 10 oz Jelly Jars (fill as many jars as you like)

Sprinkle Citric Acid over the cherries then fill the jar with Maraschino liqueur.

Secure the lids tightly.

Refrigerate for 1 month in order for the cherries to absorb the maximum amount of flavor from the liqueur.

Enjoy with your favorite cocktail or for your Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (Which I will be posting about over at Corningware411 tomorrow)

Repeat after me, just say NO to Zombie Cherries.

Mangia!!
~~

P.S. Many apologies for my absence, I have just been really busy in the tech geek world lately....  I have a ton of stuff to share, (like Clam Bacon Quiche, Palmier, Spice Cocoa Cake, and Malted Brownies) but no time to actually sit down and write posts or reduce photos and such....  This particular post was started back on the 16th of August and I am just now finishing it.  LOL

Can't See the Forest for the Cherries - Black Forest Cake

My nephew Blaine is celebrating his 17th birthday.  Due to the fact that he is enthralled with all things "cherry and chocolate" I decided he was in need of a Black Forest cake for said birthday.

So what exactly is a Black Forest Cake?  It is a decadent combination of Morello Cherries and massive quantities of chocolate cake all bound together with lightly sweetened whipped cream and liberally laced with that famous liqueur of the Black Forest in Germany... Kirschwasser.

What is Kisrchwasser?

Kirschwasser is German for "Cherry Water", and while it may be as clear as water, the stuff packs a punch.  This double distilled brandy made from the sour Morello cherry is, more often than not, simply referred to a Kirsch.  In a nutshell, what the Marasca Cherry is to Maraschino (the Italian liqueur, not those unnaturally red things in the jar), the Morello Cherry is to Kirschwasser.   This "not too sweet with a subtle cherry/almond flavored" liqueur is a vitally necessary ingredient to make a traditional Black Forest Cake; for that is where both the cake and Kirschwasser hail from...  The Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in southwestern Germany.  They make an awesome ham too, but that is another post.

Here in America, this liquor is often missing from Black Forest Cake, which is a pity, as even a little adds a subtle almond-ish nuance that is quite pleasing.  So stop reserving your bottle for those fondue parties and break it out for your cakes as well....  LOL

OK, I will confess, this is not the normal way I make Black Forest Gateau (cake).  The reason for this modified recipe is to cut down on the amount of liquor I was using.  Oh, it still exists in the cherry filling, but the filling is cooked so at least some of the alcohol has boiled off.  There is also Kirshwasser in the stabilized whipped cream, but it's only 2 TB in 3 cups of heavy cream.  I figured that was a low enough amount that it could be safely served to a 17 year old.  After all, I would not want to contribute to the delinquency of a minor or anything... ;)

The main change was the cake.  Normally I would use a chocolate genoise or chocolate sponge, but since I was not going to be liberally brushing the cake with Kirchwasser this time, I opted for the Best Chocolate Cake Ever! instead.  It's deeply chocolaty and moist, without the additional liquor.

Black Forest Cake (Gateau)

1 recipe of Best Chocolate Cake Ever!, baked in 2 9-inch rounds

Morello Cherry Filling

700 g Morello Cherries (drained with juice saved)
3/4 cup reserved Cherry Juice
1/4 cup Kirschwasser
5 tsp Cornstarch
pinch of Cinnamon

Drain the cherries and reserve 3/4 cup of the juice.

Pour the juice in a small sauce pan and place over medium heat.

In a small bowl, combine Kirschwasser and cornstarch to make a slurry.

Season with a pinch of cinnamon, then add the slurry to the cherry juice.

Cook until thick and bubbly, then remove from the heat and fold in the cherries.

Set aside to cook while you make the stabilized Kirschwasser whipped cream.

Stabilized Kirschwasser Whipped Cream

2 TB Kirshwasser
2 tsp gelatin (Unflavored of course)
1 tsp meringue powder
3 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1/8 cup powdered sugar

Bloom gelatin in Kirshwasser for 5 minutes.

Set gelatin in simmering water until melted and clear then set aside to cool slightly.

Begin whipping the Heavy Cream along with the Confectioners' Sugar and Meringue powder in an ice bath, until JUST beyond soft peaks.

Add the bloomed gelatin, use hand whisk until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble the cake

First, slice the cakes in half horizontally, leaving you with 4 layers.

Place the bottom layer on a cardboard cake round or a plate, and cover with about 3/4 cup of the Kirschwasser cream.

Spoon half of the cooled cherry mixture over the cream,

Top with a second layer of cake then cover this with about 3/4 cup of the Kirschwasser Cream (no cherries this time)

Then add the 3rd layer of cake and smear with 3/4 cup of the Kirschwasser Cream.

Spoon the remaining cherry mixture over the cream.

Cover with the final layer of cake and coat the whole thing with the remaining Kirschwasser Cream.

Place Candied Crab Apples (or Candied Cherries) on top.

Sprinkle with copious amounts of shaved Chocolate.

Cut a big huge piece for your nephew.....

And let him chow down while you sing happy birthday!

Mangia!!
~~

Glaze Craze - Glacé Crab Apples

I notices several confusing things when I was looking for a way to make, what I thought, were candied crab apples. What I had in mind was something as simple as a candied apple, you know... An apple dipped in a candy syrup and.. Ta Da! Your done.

This is evidently not the case when looking up these sorts of recipes. Most of what I found was a 4-14 day process of soaking fruit in progressively more concentrated sugar syrups until ALL the water in the fruit is replaced with sugar, at which point the fruit is then dried or stored in said syrup until ready to use. Kind of like how they make maraschino cherries, minus the toxic chemical soaking. That is another post though.

Since the internet really only provided the same 2 recipes over and over again, I decided it was time to do some research, the hard way. ALL the old cookbooks came out. Finally, after Irma and Fannie let me down... Heck even the Women's Home Companion and Mrs. DA Lincoln failed to deliver. There in the depths of The American Woman's Cookbook, by Ruth Berolzheimer was the recipe I had been looking for. Glacé Fruit (glaws-AY). Right above the proverbial Candied Fruit recipe. She had made a distinction between the two.

The "Candied" fruit was the recipe requiring massive amounts of sugar syrup soaking, while the "Glacé" fruit was what we, nowadays, refer to as a candied apple. I was very pleased. So armed with this recipe and a bunch of well washed, well dried, room temperature Crab Apples, I am all set to Glacé away!

Glacé Crab Apples

1/2 cup Water
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Light Corn Syrup
Crab Apples or even better, Cherries

Wash and dry the Crab Apples. (They must be completely dry or the syrup will not stick)

Combine Water, Sugar and Corn Syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Once it boils, place a candy thermometer in the syrup, cooking to 300 degrees.

When the syrup reaches 300 degrees, remove the pan from the heat and begin, very carefully, dipping each crab apple, holding it by the stem, into the syrup.

Let some of the excess syrup drip off, and move the dipped cherry to parchment paper to dry.

Voila!

Oh, so why the obsession with Glacé Crab Apples?  Well, they definitely are not for eating...  LOL  Though I guess you could, if you wanted to.

I am in the process of making a Black Forest Cake for my Nephew for his Birthday, and, well, cherries are WAY out of season right now, even the Chilean cherries aren't ready until early January...  So I am hoping that these Glacé Crab Apples will look, at least a little, like candied cherries on top of his cake. (I refuse to put those NASTY artificial flavored/colored Maraschino cherries on his cake)

So this is really just the first step to a Black Forest Cake..... Oh yeah baby! It's commin.... LOL

Mangia!!
~~