Vishnik
is a cordial made of fermented fruit juice well laced with alcohol. It can be
enjoyed at any time but is too sweet for an aperitif. My mother sometimes made
it with wild blueberries, but it most often is made with bing cherries. She
said you could keep vishnik forever. That is true. At an AAA annual meeting, to
celebrate his 80th birthday I gave Sid what remained of a vishnik
batch almost thirty years old. It wasn’t much, less than a split bottle, but it
was all that was left of that vintage. I knew from earlier samplings that the
vishnik had darkened and tasted of chocolate. Sid wrote to me and said that
another wine maven and he declared it to be the best vishnik they ever had.
Also true.
Making
vishnik is time consuming and not worth doing unless you make a lot. Save your
wine bottles and their corks—screw cap bottles are OK. Bottles of vishnik are
greatly appreciated gifts. The recipe here is for two dozen liter bottles and a
little left over.
You will need:
1
case of ripe red bing cherries (about 20 lbs.) 1
gal. ethyl alcohol (see below)
10
lbs. sugar for 4 gallons 15
lbs. sugar for 6 gallons
Wash
cherries, remove the stems, and alternate making layers of cherries and sugar
in gallon jugs to reach ¾ full. This leaves room for fermentation (bubbling,
called “playing”). Cover the jug mouths with cloth. Any clean rag will do.
Fermentation should end after about four days. (Sometimes a little yeast helps
starting the fermentation.) The sugar does not readily dissolve and settles at
the bottom. It should be stirred, agitated, or roiled. I do this with a
long-handle wooden spoon about twice a day Sugar is no longer visible after two
or three days. When fermentation stops add alcohol to fill the jug, cork it or
cap it, and let the vishnik rest. After four months, remove the cherries. They
can be enjoyed by themselves or with ice cream or sour cream. (Caution: they
will put the unwary to sleep with a smile.) Refrigerate the remaining cherries.
Pour the vishnik into liter bottles. Let it rest again for another four months
and it will be ready for Hanukah, Kwanza, Christmas, and the New Year.
Getting
high proof alcohol (90%, 180 proof) is difficult. My mother used to get it from
an elderly Jewish lady whose appearance would have you swear that she could not
be a bootlegger. Lab alcohol is perfect, if you can get it. When all else
fails, fall back on cheap vodka.
