halcyon1234
Junior
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- Aug 2, 2012
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A bit of history: Growing up, there was always this jar in the back of the fridge. It held a few cups of very wrinkled cherries, floating in a dark red liquid. It was vishnik, and that same jar had been sitting in a family fridge for decades.
My family calls it wine, but I suspect it's a liqueur. It's very sweet, and very potent. It comes out only on very special occasions, and is usually served no more than an ounce at a time. If you're lucky, you'll also get to eat one of the cherries.
I got married two years ago, and I thought it would be special to have vishnick for the toast. A year before that, I finally asked my father for the recipe for the vishnik. (It'll list it below). It takes sour cherries, Morello if you can get them. In Ontario, there's a two week period in the summer when they grow, and only on a very few cherry farms. My wife and I tripped down to the Niagara region, picked a few baskets. Washed, removed the stems, the 3/4 filled 4x 8 gallon jars. Topped them with sugar and lemon juice, then just left them on top of some bookshelves for the next year.
The recipe worked perfectly. It was sweet, tart, full of cherry flavor.
The only problem was I made, possibly, too much. My wedding had 80 guests in total, and everyone got 1 oz of the stuff. 80oz from, a couple dozen gallons left a lot over. And I made a second batch from the same cherries.
So here I am, with a whole bunch of mason jars full of a sweet wine that may not be a wine. The next batch is almost done. I can keep it in the fridge pretty much forever, but it takes up too much space. I'd love to bottle it, keep it in the cellar, and/or give it away as special gifts.
Any advice for a recipe like this? Can I bottle it? Are there any special considerations as far as equipment or procedure, or is it the same as bottling a regular wine? Any reliable way of figuring out its proof without using gunpowder? =)
My family calls it wine, but I suspect it's a liqueur. It's very sweet, and very potent. It comes out only on very special occasions, and is usually served no more than an ounce at a time. If you're lucky, you'll also get to eat one of the cherries.
I got married two years ago, and I thought it would be special to have vishnick for the toast. A year before that, I finally asked my father for the recipe for the vishnik. (It'll list it below). It takes sour cherries, Morello if you can get them. In Ontario, there's a two week period in the summer when they grow, and only on a very few cherry farms. My wife and I tripped down to the Niagara region, picked a few baskets. Washed, removed the stems, the 3/4 filled 4x 8 gallon jars. Topped them with sugar and lemon juice, then just left them on top of some bookshelves for the next year.
The recipe worked perfectly. It was sweet, tart, full of cherry flavor.
The only problem was I made, possibly, too much. My wedding had 80 guests in total, and everyone got 1 oz of the stuff. 80oz from, a couple dozen gallons left a lot over. And I made a second batch from the same cherries.
So here I am, with a whole bunch of mason jars full of a sweet wine that may not be a wine. The next batch is almost done. I can keep it in the fridge pretty much forever, but it takes up too much space. I'd love to bottle it, keep it in the cellar, and/or give it away as special gifts.
Any advice for a recipe like this? Can I bottle it? Are there any special considerations as far as equipment or procedure, or is it the same as bottling a regular wine? Any reliable way of figuring out its proof without using gunpowder? =)