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CHERRY BRANDY (to be made in July or August)
The Morella cherry is generally used for this purpose, on account of its peculiar acidity. It ripens later than other cherries, and is more expensive. It is seldom used as a dessert fruit; nevertheless, if allowed to hang until fully ripe, it is very refreshing and agreeable to many palates. The cherries for brandy should be gathered in dry weather, and must be used when fresh. They ought not to be over-ripe. Wipe each one with a soft cloth, and cut the stalks, leaving them about half an inch in length. A little more than half fill wide-necked bottles such as are used for bottling fruit. Allow three ounces of pounded sugar to each pound of fruit, which must be placed in with it. Fill the bottles with the best French brandy. Do not make the mistake of supposing that the fruit and sugar will make bad spirit pass for good. Cork the bottles securely, and seal over the top. The cherries may be used in a month, but will be better in two. Three or four cloves put in the bottle are by many considered an improvement. Probable cost of Morella cherries, 10d. to 1s. per pound.
An infusion rather than a cooked preparation: fruit, sugar and spirit left to sit. The only real variables are the quality of the brandy and keeping water out of the jar.
- Morella means MorelloThe sour dark-red cherry sold today as Morello. Sour cherries are the point of the recipe; sweet Bing or Rainier types give a flat, syrupy result. Frozen sour cherries are widely sold but thaw wet, which dilutes the spirit and encourages spoilage, so fresh really is better here.
- The sugar ratioThree ounces of sugar to a pound of fruit is about 6 tablespoons per 450 g, or a scant half cup. That is a restrained, unmistakably sour liqueur by modern standards; double it if you want something closer to a commercial cherry brandy, and stir the jar for a few days until the sugar dissolves.
- "Pounded sugar"Sugar crushed fine in a mortar, equivalent to caster or ordinary granulated sugar. No need for icing sugar, which carries anti-caking starch.
- Dry fruit, dry vesselThe insistence on gathering in dry weather and wiping each cherry is the hinge. Surface water and split skins are what turn a jar cloudy or vinegary. Leave the stalks trimmed to about half an inch as directed, and discard anything bruised or splitting.
- Bottles and headspaceWide-mouthed preserving jars with a clean-sealing lid are easier than corking and sealing with wax. Slightly over half fill with fruit, then top up with spirit so every cherry is submerged; anything sitting above the liquid will discolour and taint the batch.
- The brandyThe warning against cheap spirit still holds. A plain VS cognac or any decent unflavoured grape brandy at 38-40% ABV works, and a full-strength spirit is safer for keeping than a heavily diluted one. The alcohol both extracts and preserves, so do not dilute it.
- StonesThe cherries are left whole. The stones are often said to lend the faint almond note associated with this kind of liqueur; leave them intact rather than cracking them, and do not chew the fruit's pits when you eat the cherries later.
- Timing and keepingA month is drinkable and two months better, as the recipe says. Store in a cool dark cupboard. The cherries themselves keep well in the spirit and are worth serving with ice cream or in a trifle.
Steeping fruit in spirit was one of the standard ways an English household turned a short, awkward crop into something that lasted, and sour cherries were an obvious candidate. The Morello is a variety of Prunus cerasus, the sour cherry, long grown against north-facing walls in kitchen gardens where sweet cherries would not thrive; its lateness is what puts this recipe in July or August. The instruction to use good French brandy is a period point of pride: cheap British-made "brandy" of the late nineteenth century was often neutral spirit coloured and flavoured, which fruit and sugar would not disguise. The cloves are the older, spiced style of cordial-making, sometimes likened to eighteenth-century ratafias, and the recipe sensibly leaves them optional.