Dark and rich with a flavor reminiscent of ripe cherries kissed with almond, my chokecherry pit liqueur recipe is one of the best things to make with wild cherries and their pits I know of. Read on and I'll explain what it is, and why every forager should make some.
While there's a number of ways you could make a good liqueur from chokecherries and any other wild cherry, this recipe draws from indigenous techniques to make a cherry liqueur with the richest, deepest cherry flavor I've ever tasted. If you aren't swayed yet, it gets better-the recipe here is a by-product of making the greatest cherry cake you'll ever taste. It's a great two-for-one recipe!
Using Fresh Cherries
The recipe you need to try uses dried cherries for the most potent flavor, but fresh cherries can work too. If dehydrating cherries (it takes a few days) seems like a lot of work, you can simply follow my recipe for Creme de Cassis, substituting cherries for the black currants.
Also, this recipe uses cherry pits. Although some people may say they're poisonous that isn't true. For more on that, see my post Cherry Pits: A Traditional Almond Flavoring.
How to Make Choke Cherry Pit Liqueur
Harvest wild cherries (any variety) clean them and wash if needed, especially if you're harvesting South Dakota chokecherries or wild cherries in a windy, sandy place.
Put the cherries in a dehydrator on high heat (150F) and dry them until they're completely bone dry. This will take 24-48 hours depending on the size. Sand cherries (Prunus pumila) will take the longest as they're the largest wild cherry.
When the cherries are dried, grind them in a Vitamix blender or a spice grinder. A highspeed blender is the best option here as dried cherries are quite hard. Grinding them in a spice grinder works, but it can shorten the life of the grinder, just FYI.
After the cherries are ground to a flour they're sifted. The sifted flour is used to make Siberian Bird Cherry cake.
Store the leftover seeds and shells in a bag in the freezer until you have enough for the recipe.
When you have enough, the shells and pits are put into a container and covered with brandy. The jar is put in a cool dark place and allowed to age for 30 days. If you have room in the fridge you can also age it there and it will keep the flavor a bit longer than if it's stored at room temperature. Either way it'll taste great.
After 30 days the mixture is strained through cheesecloth and sweetened with maple syrup or sugar to taste. You can also use honey or your favorite sweetener.
I also have another recipe where the finished infusion isn't sweetened and it's a great variation. If you want to try that, check out my Lewis and Clark Wild Cherry Whiskey.
How To Use Cherry Pit Liqueur
- Serve the liqueur by itself in shot glasses as a digestif.
- Use the liqueur to make cherry cocktails. For extra flavor, you can make a chokecherry syrup cocktail using my recipe. Any type of wild cherry can be used.
- Add the liqueur as a flavoring to other liqueurs for a subtle cherry-almond flavor as you would a compound gin. Adding a few leaves of Galium triflorum or wild vanilla extract is fantastic.
- Since it contains alcohol the liqueur will help keep ice cream soft. If you like rum cherry ice cream like my Grandpa does, try making a batch with rum.
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Chokecherry Pit Liqueur Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Half gallon mason jar or other non-reactive container
Ingredients
- 2 cups Dried wild cherry pits and seeds leftover from sifting
- 4 cups Brandy, rum or vodka
- ½ cup Maple syrup or granulated sugar
- ¼ cup Ground whole dried cherries optional, for color and extra flavor
Instructions
- Combine the ground cherry pits and shells and the whole ground cherries if using with the alcohol and put into the mason jar.
- Allow the mixture to macerate / infuse for 30 days, then strain through 2 layers of cheesecloth.
- Stir in the maple syrup or sugar to taste, transfer to a clean bottle and store in the fridge.
Megan
Hi Alan,
Just curious - is it possible to do this using the strained pits and bits from AFTER you boil and make chokecherry syrup, provided that you dehydrate the leftovers before grinding and proceeding?
Thanks!
Alan Bergo
You would definitely get less flavor from doing that but you could try. I haven’t. I would suggest making sure you have some dried, ground chokecherries to add to it that haven’t been boiled to add to it. That would hedge your bet.