NEW POST! Do your cherries bounce?

We're soooo incredibly crafty that we don't have time to post.. alas, we are unable to craft time out of thin air! Not only that, but I am horrible about remembering to actually take photos while I'm doing something, I'll try to remedy that.

I DID remember to take some this week, but only because it's a long-term project. I was inspired, by some article I can no longer recall, to make Cherry Bounce. Cherry Bounce is the drink that, legend says, determined where the capital city of Raleigh would be. I love reading cool stuff about the city I call home, plus this just sounded like a bit of a yummy drink!

So, used the Google, and found quite a few recipes. Here's what they all had in common:

• Cherries
• Sugar
• Some kind of alcohol

Here are the things that varied, by recipe:

• The type of alcohol
• Whether or not you mix it all together to begin with, or let the cherries ferment a little before adding alcohol

The hub and I enjoy our bourbon, so I opted for that as my alcohol. I couldn't decide which would be the better of the two methods, so I'm trying both! I took my fanny over to Earthfare, which was the only place I could find cherries, and bought a bag. The sugar is plain ol' Dixie, and the bourbon is Evan Williams single barrel (our bourbon of choice for mixing, or in this case... I don't know.. soaking?).

Jar number 1 (that's right, I'm mixing these in mason jars!) contains the recipe in the article above, I just reduced it a bit. It's a jar of bourbon with cherries floating around, and after 2 days, the sugar has dissolved. This one has a lid, and it's a soaker.

Jar number 2 (recipe here) contains cherries stuffed up to the top, with 1.5 cups of sugar and about a teaspoon of cinnamon (I used Penzey's China Tung Hing Cinnamon). This one has cheesecloth instead of a lid, and it's supposed to break down / ferment. You know it's done when there's a brown liquid and the sugar is dissolved.. how gross does that sound!? THEN you add the bourbon, and it sits a little longer. Hee hee.. it's like SCIENCE!

So, more to come as the jars progress. I'm hoping they turn out nice enough that I can find some cute bottles, or jars, and give them as Christmas gifts.

Stay tuned.. I'm actually going to post again soon... Fig Jam coming up in the near future.