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RATAFIA, CHERRY (a Danish recipe)
Bruise two pounds of black cherries, so that all the kernels may be broken; add a quarter of an ounce of bitter almonds or peach kernels, half an ounce of cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce of pounded cloves, and one pound of white sugar to the cherries, also half a pint of brandy and a quart of old white wine. Let these remain a few days to infuse, stirring frequently; then filter the liqueur and bottle it.
This is a cold-infusion cordial, not a distillation, but its flavour depends entirely on ingredients that are no longer considered safe to eat in these quantities. The notes below explain the specific problem rather than offering a workaround.
- The broken kernels are the hazardThe instruction to bruise the cherries "so that all the kernels may be broken" is deliberate: crushed stones release amygdalin, which enzymatic action converts to hydrogen cyanide in the presence of water. The stones from two pounds of cherries, crushed into a watery alcoholic infusion and steeped for days, provide the conditions under which that conversion proceeds.
- Bitter almonds and peach kernelsBoth are named as alternatives, and both are concentrated sources of the same compound. Unprocessed bitter almonds are not generally available for sale in the United States for this reason, and peach kernels carry a comparable load. A quarter of an ounce is a small weight, but the recipe's only guide is "a few days," with no control over how much is extracted.
- No way to measure the resultCyanogenic content varies with cultivar, ripeness and how finely the stones are crushed, so there is no reliable domestic way to know what a finished bottle contains. Commercial ratafias and noyau-type liqueurs are made with controlled, tested flavourings for exactly this reason.
- Filtering does not remove itThe final step filters out solids only. Hydrogen cyanide and unconverted amygdalin are soluble and pass straight through into the bottled liqueur.
- If you want the flavourThe almond-cherry note this recipe is chasing is available from food-grade bitter almond extract or a commercial noyau, both formulated to be safe. Use a current recipe rather than adapting this one.
- Reading the old measuresFor interest only: half a pint of brandy is one cup and a quart of white wine is four cups.
Ratafia is a broad old European term for a fruit or kernel cordial made by steeping rather than distilling, and the name is often said to come from the Latin rata fiat, the phrase used in confirming an agreement, cordials of this sort supposedly having been drunk to seal a bargain; a derivation from tafia has also been proposed, and neither is settled. The kernel-flavoured branch of the family runs through French noyau, Italian maraschino and the almond-scented ratafia biscuit, all of which trade on the same bitter-almond note that crushed stone fruit pits supply. Nineteenth-century household books printed dozens of such infusions, turning a glut of orchard fruit into something that kept, and this one is titled as a Danish recipe. Bitter almonds are dangerous in quantity, and the compilers had no means of measuring what a given batch of kernels would yield, which is the difference between their kitchen and ours.