ironpeddler
Ye Old Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
- Messages
- 6,661
This is the second flavor I found online in the expansion of my moonshine offerings. Not being a fan of cherries, except when they come right off the tree, I was drawn to make this because all my friends and family like cherry flavored sh*t and whined about it when I mentioned I wanted to make a new flavor of moonshine. I searched many cherry moonshine recipes and none appealed to me, especially when they listed "canned tart cherries" or "tart cherry juice"...just reading that made my stomach flinch. Then I saw a version of a chocolate covered cherry moonshine recipe, but that still involved using tart cherries. Not giving a crap because I figured I'd never drink this stuff, I set out to make up my own recipe from scratch. Here is what I came up with...
Ingredients:
2 - 64oz. bottles of cherry juice. I used Juicey Juice brand. It said cherry juice on the from, had no added sugar...and didn't mention the word "tart"
3 - cans of pitted dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup....and again, no mention of the word "tart"
1 - cup white sugar
4 - teaspoons almond extract
1 - 750ml bottle of 190 proof Everclear
1 - 750ml bottle of chocolate liquor. I used Hiram Walker Creme de Cacao
I started out by adding the cherry juice to the pot and turned on the heat. Once it got warm I added the sugar and stirred it until it was completely melted. Then I added the almond extract. At that point I added the canned cherries along with their syrup. I gently stirred that because I didn't want to break apart the cherries as I was going to add them to each jar when I bottled it.
When you first add the cherries, they sink to the bottom. But as they heat up, they will float to the top. I cooked it about 15 to 20 minutes in total. Then I turned off the heat and let it cool over night.
The next morning I got out another big pot and put a fine mesh strainer on top. Then I poured the contents of the first pot into there to strain out the cherries. I put them aside to continue to drain into a bowl as I added to Everclear & chocolate liqueur to the pot. Give that a thorough mix and taste test it...very nice!
I had sterilized twelve 16oz Mason jars and divided up the cherries. When I weeded out the mangled ones, I had about 8-10 cherries in each jar.
This batch made twelve 16oz jars and one 750ml bottle...that I jammed the mangled cherries into. I must say. even not being a fan of cherries, this stuff is damn good.
My daughter snagged a jar to take home with her before I could take the ending picture. She's a bizarro cherry fan.
As for the taste, it's sweet, but not overly sweet and has a thick creamy mouth feel. And it has a nice finish on your taste buds, not tart at all, which was my initial goal. So for you tart cherry fans out there, go that route with the tart juice & tart canned cherries and let us know how it turns out.
Ingredients:
2 - 64oz. bottles of cherry juice. I used Juicey Juice brand. It said cherry juice on the from, had no added sugar...and didn't mention the word "tart"
3 - cans of pitted dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup....and again, no mention of the word "tart"
1 - cup white sugar
4 - teaspoons almond extract
1 - 750ml bottle of 190 proof Everclear
1 - 750ml bottle of chocolate liquor. I used Hiram Walker Creme de Cacao
I started out by adding the cherry juice to the pot and turned on the heat. Once it got warm I added the sugar and stirred it until it was completely melted. Then I added the almond extract. At that point I added the canned cherries along with their syrup. I gently stirred that because I didn't want to break apart the cherries as I was going to add them to each jar when I bottled it.
When you first add the cherries, they sink to the bottom. But as they heat up, they will float to the top. I cooked it about 15 to 20 minutes in total. Then I turned off the heat and let it cool over night.
The next morning I got out another big pot and put a fine mesh strainer on top. Then I poured the contents of the first pot into there to strain out the cherries. I put them aside to continue to drain into a bowl as I added to Everclear & chocolate liqueur to the pot. Give that a thorough mix and taste test it...very nice!
I had sterilized twelve 16oz Mason jars and divided up the cherries. When I weeded out the mangled ones, I had about 8-10 cherries in each jar.
This batch made twelve 16oz jars and one 750ml bottle...that I jammed the mangled cherries into. I must say. even not being a fan of cherries, this stuff is damn good.
My daughter snagged a jar to take home with her before I could take the ending picture. She's a bizarro cherry fan.
As for the taste, it's sweet, but not overly sweet and has a thick creamy mouth feel. And it has a nice finish on your taste buds, not tart at all, which was my initial goal. So for you tart cherry fans out there, go that route with the tart juice & tart canned cherries and let us know how it turns out.
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