Home-made sour cherries liqueur

Sour cherry liqueur. Elegant liqueur for elegant occasions. You serve it in little glasses and sip it sparingly enjoying every drop. My Granny prepared it when I was a child and I still remember the big green bottles filled with sour cherries and sugar. As it is with many other good things, preparing sour cherry liqueur is a slow process. You need more than a month  between buying the fresh sour cherries and taking the first sweet sips from this drink. 

Vodka is the perfect base for it, because it hasn't own flavour and color.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg sour cherries
• 500 g sugar
• 500 ml vodka
• some sour cherry leaves
• 1 split vanilla bean, a stick of cinnamon or some cloves - optional

Preparation:

Wash sour cherries, remove stems and put fruits into a big bottle with wide neck. Cover with the sugar and the optional ingredients and put on a sunny place outdoors for 3 weeks. Sugar will dissolve slowly during this period and fruits will infuse the liqueur. Use a cap made of cheesecloth instead of a tight cap - air should pass through it. Stir to rotate twice daily.

Add vodka and place the bottle in a shady place for additional 2-3 weeks. Aging phase will allow blending of the flavours. Filter through a filter paper, remove sour cherries and pour liquid into an attractive bottle with a good fitting cork.