Maraschino cherries are a type of cherry usually made with Royal Ann cherries and flavored with sugar syrup. Originally flavored with cordial, they are now dyed with radish pigment and used for decorating desserts and cocktails. They should be stored in the refrigerator once opened.
Maraschino cherries (pronounced mair and SKEE noh or mair and SHEE noh) are a specially prepared type of cherry, a fruit that grows on a tree and has only one pit. The word cherry comes from the name of a Turkish city, Cerasus, and cherries have been known for over 2,000 years.
There are two basic types of cherries, sweet and sour. Although maraschino cherries can be made with one of many types of cherry, they are usually made with the cherry known as the Royal Ann. Most of the cherries that are made into maraschinos come from Oregon and Michigan.
Maraschino cherries get the first part of their name from the cordial it was once flavored with. Cordial is made from morello cherry, so a maraschino cherry was originally a cherry flavored with warm cherry.
Today, maraschino liqueur is too expensive, and maraschino cherries are made by steeping flavored sugar syrup. Sometimes almond is added for red cherries and mint for green cherries, but they are not dyed until the flavoring process is complete.
The coloring used for maraschino cherries was once a harmful substance, but the FDA has now banned its use. An experiment in the 1990s came up with the idea of using radish pigment as a dye to create these cherries. And the Cherry Company has developed a wider range of colors, including orange, electric blue, and pink. The company was purchased by Oregon Cherry Growers in 2006.
Traditional uses of maraschino cherries include:
• decorate the center of the pineapple slices with a pineapple upside-down cake,
• topping up ice cream, banana splits and hot fudge,
• in fruit salads,
• as a decoration on cooked ham,
• as a side dish to a number of alcoholic beverages, eg whiskey sours, e
• as a side dish for cupcakes.
You can buy them with or without stems, depending on their intended use. Although the maraschino cherry undergoes a preservation process, it should be stored in the refrigerator once the package is opened.
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