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I Paid: $10.99 for a 2-ounce jar (prices may vary by region)
If you're a food reviewer like me, the prospect of paying more than $10 for a tiny jar of nine hyperluxurious maraschino-esque cherries is actually appealing. Will these cherries live up to their price? The drama is high!
And live up to it they do. French-made Griottines ("tasty wild Morello cherries with the stones removed, prepared in a liqueur whose unique recipe is closely guarded") reveal, in a kirsch-soaked flash of brilliance, just what heights the miserable, almost universally disliked maraschino cherry is capable of obtaining.
A comparison with standard-issue maraschinos is revealing. The typical brandy Old Fashioned garnish is one note: simple, bright, artificial fruit sweetness and a rubbery texture. Cloying. Fake taste, fake color, fake texture—practically plastic. A Griottine, by contrast, has natural depth at every turn. The eminently drinkable kirsch/mystery booze mix that surrounds the cherries is sweet, sure, but it's more suggestive of brandy's mature buttery depth. The cherries themselves are tender but snappy, with a gently earthy fruit flavor. These are not merely maraschino cherries for adults—they're maraschino cherries for adults with good (and expensive) taste.
Whether that's worth more than a buck a cherry is up to the palate (and wallet) of the customer, but it's always nice when paying a lot more actually yields a much better product.
Where do we find these delights? Grocery store or liquor store?
normal maraschino cherries are disgusting. they are only that candy color because the true cherry color is bleached white and the food coloring is added back in. i'll never eat another one. If these new cherries are anything like the true Luxardo cherries, i'm in! they are incredible.
Did you know Maraschino is Italian and the proper way to pronounce it is mɑrɑskinoʊ? Yeah, maras-keno.
What a random item to review.
THE LIQUOR STORE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD SELLS THEM IN A QUART MASON JAR FILLED WITH 'MOONSHINE'. I THINK I'LL TRY IT AND SAVE SOME BUCKS.
on the Griottines website, a jar of approx 88 cherries is 13 pounds - about $20 U.S.
So, about 23 cents each, NOT $1 - still expensive, but not as crazy as the article makes it to be.
Make your own. It's easy and cheap to do. Now how about another Manhattan
huck the cherries and drink the booze.
That's ridiculously overpriced. Search the Spirits board for numerous recipes for homemade brandied cherries -- many of which I'm sure will easily match this $1-a-pop variety.
That's all and good but I long ago learned a better way to improve the common variety. much cheaper too ...
I get a half gallon jar of the critters and remove all of that nasty red stuff the come in. Replace that with enough Seagrams-7 to reach the brim.
Replace the top and let it sit for at least a week. The texture of the cherries will not improve, but that won't matter much.
My first...+READ
That's all and good but I long ago learned a better way to improve the common variety. much cheaper too ...
I get a half gallon jar of the critters and remove all of that nasty red stuff the come in. Replace that with enough Seagrams-7 to reach the brim.
Replace the top and let it sit for at least a week. The texture of the cherries will not improve, but that won't matter much.
My first introduction was with white lightning, rather than Segrams, but my celcher has gone way up since then.-COLLAPSE
You could make something better yourself for $2.
I think the one in the photo is the 11.8oz, not the $11, 2oz one he reviewed.
How is there only 9 cherries? I can SEE more than 9 in the picture, and there has to be more in the jar than what it visible from the front...
It seems a little snobbish to say that standard maraschinos are "almost universally disliked". Maybe that's true in the foodie culture, but I doubt they would be served on top of ice cream and other desserts if most people in the general population disliked them.