Name: Cherry Bounce
Ingredients: 1 gallon wild cherries; enough good whiskey to cover the fruit; 1 gill (½ cup) water; 1 pound white sugar

Cherry Bounce

Ingredients

1 gallon wild cherries
enough good whiskey to cover the fruit
1 gill (½ cup) water
1 pound white sugar

Directions

Steep the cherries

Combine wild cherries and whiskey in a container, ensuring cherries are fully covered.
Let the mixture soak for 2-3 weeks.
Drain the liquor from the cherries.

Make the cherry liqueur

Mash the cherries without breaking the stones and strain through a jelly bag.
Combine the strained cherry juice with the drained liquor.
In a separate pot, make a syrup by boiling ½ cup water with 1 pound sugar until dissolved.
Stir the syrup into the cherry liquor mixture and boil briefly.
Bottle the mixture and cork tightly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Wild cherries: Provide the main fruit flavor and aroma that the whiskey extracts over the soak.
Whiskey: Acts as the solvent that draws flavor and color from the cherries and preserves the mixture.
White sugar: Adds sweetness and body, balancing the sharp alcohol and fruit flavors.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.