July 25, 2024 • 34 mins
The neon-red cherries of our childhood bear little resemblance to the original maraschino cherries. In this classic episode, Anney and Lauren take a pitiless look at the science and history of both, including how the classic type is making a comeback.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie
Ree and.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Loarn Vocal bumb and today we have a classic
episode for you about Marichino cherries.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, this was a fun one. I remember this one
because I there was a lot I did not know
about Marachino cherries and.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Cherries in general, and uh yeah, yeah this was Oh
this was in August of twenty eighteen. And some of these,
some of these classics that we run, I you know,
like the seeds of everything that we do now are there.
But you can kind of like listen to us developing
(00:47):
the way that we do this show. And furthermore, on
this one in particular, I'm like, oh, those sweet innocent
babies that we were, like, we just had so much
hope and bounce in our voices.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh yeah, we were in our new, a new hope era.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah. Was there any particular reason this one was on
your mind to rerun, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I was sort of looking through the back catalog and
it it this one. Yeah, this one was fun, and
I guess kind of goes along with a sort of
summer theme of of nice, nice Sundays and cocktails and
all of that sort of thing. Also, I don't think
that we said this in the original, so hey, drink responsibly.
(01:40):
This isn't necessarily an alcohol episode, but it is very
alcohol adjacent, so important note.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, and I will say, I know I've talked about
this before. I am about to go to the beach
sure as we recorded this episode. Yes, and there's a
drink called a bushwhacker where I typically go that. It's
kind of Florida, South Alabama is where it's from, and
(02:12):
it's just it's basically just like a chocolate milkshake. But
I do love it, and it does come with it
comes with like the very radioactive in heavy quotes Maraschino cherry.
So it is appropriate for me that we're running this
right now.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, yeah, heck, I don't think. I don't think I've
had I haven't had a Marshino cherry in a hot minute.
I went through early in the pandemic. I went through
I like, I was like, Okay, I'm going to have
to learn how to make a Manhattan at home. Not
that it's difficult to do, but I was just like,
I need I need to feel I need to feel civilized,
(02:52):
which is terrible. There's twenty eight million other ways to
feel civilized, but for some reason, a Manhattan cocktail is
what I decided to do.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So I went.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I made myself a lot of them early in the pandemic,
not like in one day, but you know, yeah, but yeah,
that was my like go to cocktail for a couple months.
And I think I might have like run myself dry
on on that.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And the Marachino cherry. Yeah, there used to be a
place in our old office, and I talk about this
in here. I believe that that was like the first
time I had not the super bright red cherry, and
my mind was blown. I was like, oh my gosh,
these can be they can have flavor, it can be
(03:42):
like not a sugar bombs punch. There is a time
and place for both all types. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Also yeah, if if if you like the kind of
radioactive ones, then do what you want. Yeah, they're not radioactive,
that's not why they're that color.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
No, they are not, but they are very vibrant and
eye catching. And this weekend I will be having one.
So yeah, no judgment from me.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
No judgment, basically, no judgment ever. Maybe strong opinions sometimes,
but no judgment.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, I guess we should let pass.
Annie and Lauren take it away. Hello, and welcome to
food Stuff. I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Baum, and today we're talking about Marashiino.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Cherries, indeed the cherry Young Chuck, which was definitely my
least favorite part of dessert as a kid.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Oh really, Oh, I loved him.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
As a kid. Really. Yeah, they were so red that
the color is intriguing, and we will talk a lot
about that. I did just drive mirror hours ago. I
was at the beach louren Ago Goodness, and a popular
drink in LA which here stands for Lower Alabama, is
called the Bushwhacker, which is essentially like a grown up milkshake,
(05:13):
but not as sweet as a mudslide. I like them
a lot, okay, but they always, except for my favorite one,
most of them come with a cherry, a bright Marachino cherry,
and it's probably the only time of year I encounter
them these days. Yeah, yes, that is a true statement.
I was going to say, except we did get one
on our dacory, but that was not a Maraschino cherry.
(05:34):
That's a different type of cherry that we will be
talking about as well.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, that is also a marachino cherry.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It's just a different cherry. Okay, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yes, there's there's some words that are happening here, and
I do call those neon red ones like cancer cherries now,
because I feel like the flavor profile is mostly cancer.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah. You bite into it and you're like, like hints
of cancer.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, okay, very cancer forward.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Here's a cancer for it is not something that I
would like a product of mine to be described as.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But yeah, I'm probably not making any friends in marketing right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Now, I don't think so. So here we're going to
start a quote with a quote for this episode. Anybody
that's poured a fair share of drinks in their life
would never complain about a Maraschino cherry. It's like getting
mad at soda water. Oh yeah, and this is from
the owner of Portland's Matador, Angelo Pucinelli. I'm sorry if
(06:30):
I mis pronounce your name, and the kind of One
of the reasons we're talking about this is because our
colleague Robert Lamb wrote an article a while back and
sent it to us.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, he wrote an article for Atlas obscura or a
gastro obscura, specifically called how a vibrant factory made sweet
usurped the original Marachino cherry. So yeah, thanks to him
for the topic tip and also for the excellent transition
with that title to our favorite.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Question, Maraschino cherries. What are they?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And it's a pretty good question in this case.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It is an excellent question.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, a Marishano cherry is at its core, at its pit,
at its pitless core, a sweetened preserved cherry with or
without its stem and its pit. But there are two
essential forms of the Marishina cherry, the kind preserved in
sweetened cherry juice or cherry licore, and the kind preserved
in sweetened other stuff. The former tends to be a
(07:30):
deep scarlet red in color with like a rich, bright
flavor and an almost gummy type chew, like gummy candy
sort of chew, And the latter tends to be a
sort of day glow, a semi transparent shade of red
with a sweet sort of like cherry lollipop flavor and
a little bit of a crunch like an apple, not
like a granola.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The latter can also come in other colors, notably day
glow or shamrock green, but also yellow orange and blue,
and can come in flavors other than cherry. Really, there
are some of the blue ones are like blue raspberry flavored.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh my goodness, I did not know this, of course
they are. Of course you typically find these bright red
fruits on top of Sundays are garnishing certain cocktails, like
say a Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And these days that first less science y kind can
also be found in cocktails. Again, yes, and how these
two products that are quite different, yes, inexperience came to
be known by the same name is a matter of history.
But for now, let's talk about the science of how
(08:35):
they happen.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, because there is a lot of science involved.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yes, well, there's science in both versions, because it's preservation.
You're looking to preserve cherries so that you know, bacteria
and mold and stuff won't eat them before you get
a chance to. And that's all science. But okay, let's
start with the kind that's made with cherry juice or
(09:03):
cherry booze. The type of cherries used for these is
typically a sour or tart cherries, any of several varieties
within the species Prunus sarassis, and there are two main
subgroups here. The nearly black maroon, super tart morellos which
are pigmented red all the way through, and the lighter
or brighter red kind of medium tart morell or Kentish
(09:26):
cherries which have a clear yellow, pinkish flesh. The classic
sour cherry used for Maraschino cherries is called the marasca.
I feel like I just said that in the most
American way possible.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I know that that's more correct, but I always say
mascara in my head because it's kind of close there
they are. It's definitely not the mascara. It is not
the mascara cherry.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's a different thing, the morasca, and it is a
type of morello. And the cherries for this process are
an as salt solution for at least half a day
to again prevent microbial growth, then rinsed really well and
then soaked in a solution of sugar and cherry juice
packed and the jar will be pasteurized to inactivate any
(10:13):
unwelcome microbes like Clistridium bochylinum. Yeah, that could make people
sick down the line. Traditionally they were instead of being
brined first, maybe just soaked in alcohol because that will
also pretty much keep bacteria at bay.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah. Meanwhile, the Marichiano cherries produced via the more modern
preservation sciences are almost certainly made from sweet cherries any
of several varieties within the species Prunus avium, and here
in the United States it's probably the variety royal ann
or queen Anne cherries. These are similar to to rainier
(10:53):
cherries if you've ever seen those in your supermarket. They're
kind of like golden blush colored and way less acidic
and more sugary aka sweeter than any of those cherries
over in the tart Prunus sarassis species. And I didn't
know that these were two separate species technically, but they are.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I really know very little about cherries.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Are apparently, so okay, okay, you again are going to
want to brind these cherries, but in this case you're
going to do it in two different preservative solutions. First
a sodium sulfite solution and then a sodium chlorite solution,
And this will prevent most yeast mold bacteria stuff like
(11:32):
that from growing in the cherries, but it will also
leach out their color, giving you after the first solution
these pale yellow cherries with maybe some brown from any
bruising they've experienced. And then after the second one, snowy
white cherries huh, which weird, weird looking.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Can you imagine like having vanilla ice cream and then
the white white cherry weird? Don't like it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And this process actually takes a couple of weeks. You
then pit the cherries and wash out all the brine,
which is such a thorough process that it also removes
basically anything that's water soluble, like sugars and flavors. None
of the brine should be in the cherries by the
time they get to you. But still it's pretty nasty stuff,
and disposing of it is apparently a really huge environmental
(12:20):
and economic problem.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
In the industry. Yeah, yeah, no good.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So, okay, you've got this blank canvas of cherry that
it's still technically a cherry, I suppose, but you need
to add any kind of flavor or color back in.
So yeah, solution of sugar, flavor, coloring and a few
preservatives like a potassium sorbit and sodium benzoate to prevent
(12:47):
microbial growth and to thus make the final product shelf stable,
because we like things to be shelf stable.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We do.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
We do like that this sugar and stuff solution actually
has to be introduced in like dilute stages, stepping up
over a period of days or even weeks to prevent
the fruit from like essentially exploding at like a at
like a cellular level and just mushing all to hell.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So like a cherry bomb. Yeah. Oh hey, that's my
revenge karaoke song by the way.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh wow, Yeah, so that's serious.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
If I'm ever singing that in you're around, somebody in
the crowd has done something, probably doesn't remember. It's no
idea I'm up there, because that's how revenge schemes go.
Let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's not what they're known for.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Oh well, but I but I hay, you know, I
think that's probably the best way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I feel like I'm accomplished, right, as long as you
feel good about it. Yeah, that's the most important part,
it is. Yeah. After all that though, that the cherries
can be you know, packed and pasteurized.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, and something that never occurred to me. You can
make your own and now I really want to.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah. Yeah, if you're gonna you can use sweet cherries.
But I would personally recommend trying to find yourself some
sour cherries here in the States. They're they're kind of
hard to find fresh unless you live in the Pacific Northwest,
where most of them are grown, but you can find
them canned or preferably frozen. And Montmorency cherries are maybe
the most common around here, and although the brand Luxardo
(14:31):
no longer preserves their cherries and liquor it is. It
is easier you can skip that brining step. There are
lots of recipes online if you want to do this
kind of thing technically. There is a recipe up for
the modern science kind too. It was published in the
Journal of Food Science Education in two thousand and nine.
But yes, doing that one involves a deeper familiarity with
(14:56):
chemistry practices. Then I am personal cup personally comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, that seems like a too much work for something
I'll probably just show off one time.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And be like, look at this science cherry I made.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The end. Probably don't eat it. I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And speaking of oh nutrition, yeah, obviously perhaps this will
differ depending on what type of marachino cherry you're talking about,
but the serving size for these things is typically a
single cherry, yeah, you know, which will run you about
like ten calories in terms of sugar content, and an
(15:42):
insignificant amount of anything else. Right to quote from that
piece in the in the Journal of Food Science Education,
Maraschino cherries are not intended to be a significant contributor
to our nutritional well being. Their role is to make
food more appealing and, by doing so, stimulate food consumption.
Hospital dietitians are aware of this and will often place
a Marchino cherry on a grapefruit or fruit salad to
(16:04):
make their patient's meal more attractive and special.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Oh well, that's nice. I mean they are eye catching.
They are. It's like if I had a choice between
a grapefruit with a cherry and one with out a cherry,
I would go for the cherry.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Sure, I mean, I mean I think I've definitely ordered
cocktails before because I knew that there was going to
be a cherry in them. Really yeah, usually the sour cherry.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah. Yeah, those are good. Those are good. Well, these
cherries have quite an interesting history, and we will get
into that, but first we're going to take a quick
break for a word from our sponsor. And we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Thank you, yes, thank you. So Okay, at some point
in the way back having been imported from Central Asia.
A few varieties of sour cherries developed around Central Europe,
and one famous type was the marasca cherry. It grew
in the sandy soil of modern day Croatia's Dalmatia coastal area,
(17:20):
across the Adriatic Sea from northern Italy.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The Maraschino cherry was meant to be a replacement for
those difficult, easily bruisible, hard to transport cherries. And looking
for ways to get around this, some cherry farmers in
a couple of different areas around Europe, like Croatia, got
the idea to brine the cherries and saltwater and then
soak them in liquor that was made out of cherries.
Around Germany this was called Kershfassar, and around Italy it
(17:46):
was called Maraschino liquor. All parts of the cherries too,
the pits, the stems, the leaves and yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Marischino is a type of fruit brandy made from crushing
whole marasca cherries, letting them firm, and then distilling the
whole mess and and the pits give it part of
its its nutty bitter flavor. Marasca, by the way, is
a shortening of amarasca, which in turn comes from the
Italian word for bitter, amorrow, which traces back to the
Latin for bitter, which I didn't write down.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So that's very useful.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Also, i've heard that that, speaking of speaking of mispronouncing
things and or not writing them down, I've heard that
that it should actually be maraschino.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, when you're.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Talking about the liquor. Oh really, but I'm not. I'm
so sorry. I'm just not going to say that it's gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I can't. I can't today. I've got a lot. This
is a battle we cannot win.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, I'm just gonna stick with Maraschino.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah. I did see that too, and I was in
the article. It was like, I think you'll be forgiven,
and I said, I hope so I knock on wood,
I said, I hope so to no one in particular
standing alone at my.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Disk, But yes, so so on. One type of this
of this cherry brandy, essentially flavored with rose petals, called
rosolio Marschino, was extra popular. It had been in the
region since medieval times and was made by nuns in convents.
All right, nuns, Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In the eighteen twenties. That's when the Lexardo family, Yes,
that Lexardo family moved to Zeidar, Croatia from Genova and
started making their version of Marischino liquor. By nineteen oh five,
they were also using this to preserve cherries. Cocktail chairs
were really popular around this time too, but around nineteen
(19:37):
hundred they were replaced with olives. The cocktail olive. An
eighteen ninety nine article from The Rasting Daily illustrates this quote.
In some of the swell Uptown establishments, the cocktail olive
is getting in its work and bids fair to supplant
the twosome cherry with the public. Ah, I've never really
put together that. Yeah, they are pretty similar in shape,
(20:00):
and like, if you're hungry and you order a cocktail,
you're going to get one with another, a cherry or
and all of I just never really put it together.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I always consider an all of martini to be basically
a snack.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It does feel kind of snackish. Now ready for transport,
cherries made the trip across the ocean to the United States,
and by the end of the nineteenth century this cherry
started appearing around the country on ice cream and custards.
In salads, where it was seen as the difference between
it a so so salad and a superior dish worthy
(20:32):
of praise. Kind of going back to that grapefruit with
the cherry or not, it made a big difference. The
real thing was expensive, a luxury, but there was a
cheaper version available from France that was made with dyes
and sugar, and recipes for preserved cherries appeared before that
in America, including in The Complete Housewife in seventeen forty two. Yeah,
(20:57):
And of course cocktails. It was a popular practice to
garnish a cocktail with fruit, and when this tender, jarred,
long lasting, bright red fruit came around, bartenders rejoiced. It
was a big deal, so big that in nineteen oh six,
The New York Times wrote about the cherry quote, the
(21:17):
cherry in the seductive beverage is calmly looked upon as
an added temptation for the one who imbibes, and that,
for women, prime reason for partaking of the liquid.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, and it went on. A young woman engaged a
room at a fashionable hotel, and after ordering a Manhattan cocktail,
immediately sent for another. Soon she was ordering them by
the dozen. The management interfered, and someone was sent to
expostulate with her, also to find out how she had
been able to consume so many cocktails. She was found
(21:52):
surrounded by the full glasses, with the cherry gone.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I feel like that's probably apocryphal, but it is no
less delightful for that back.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I don't know why she didn't just call out and say, you.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Feel like, hey, can I get a jar of these cherries?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I can't imagine order. I'll take twelve Manhattan's please.
Just don't think that'd fly. No. A mere five years later, though,
things changed for the Maraschino. Its reputation soured, the culprit
(22:31):
a market flooded with fakes. These fakes were bad news.
The red color was achieved with a coal tar byproduct.
The flavor was far sweeter, usually due to artificial sweeteners,
than the original cherries. The New York Times, singing the
praises years earlier, really changed their tune, describing them as
quote toughened and reduced to the semblance of a formless,
(22:52):
gummy lump by long imprisonment in a bottle, that they
were an abomination, and their utter un fitness has been manifested.
We trust that it will disappear. That's it really took
a steep fall right there. Spoiler alert. Though it did
(23:13):
not disappear. I know we're all surprised. It did go
through two redefinitions, the first courtesy of the Pure Food
and Drug Act of nineteen oh six. The Act defined
maraschinos as quote bottled in marachino liquor and not in
a compound of benzaldehyde, oil of almonds, and glucose, but
still imitations. Galore pushed the FDA to release a statement
(23:34):
clarifying the difference between a maraschino and an imitation. But
despite all of this, Americans couldn't seem to get enough
of them. A nineteen to fifteen New York Agricultural Experiment
Station report attributed to quote the fashion of adding preserved
cherries as much for ornamentation as to give flavor to
many drinks and ices.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, makes them more special, it does. And this brings
us to a section on something that changed most things
in the drink world here in the United States, with
ripples out everywhere else. Prohibition. Yes, but first it brings
us to another quick break for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
And we're back. Thank you. Sponsor, Yes, thank you. Yeah,
so prohibition this did in fact impact Maraschino cherries because
it was decreed that they could no longer be preserved
in alcohol. A scientist at Oregon State University, seeing like
a cherry signal in the sky, would not let the
(24:46):
maraschino fade out of existence. Nay. He used a non
alcoholic solution with calcium salts, which prevented muchiness, but did
leach some white to brain them. And then they were pitted,
and this process was completed, the cherries could be flavored
and died and yeah not just ready. There. For a while,
bright green and bright blue were pretty common, kind of
(25:09):
a fad. But this whole porrhibition story is it a myth,
a conspiracy? Possibly the Oregon State University professor had been
working on a way to preserve the cherries that didn't
require alcohol because the alcohol makes them shrunken and wrinkly,
and prohibition was just a happy coincidence. Maybe. Also, the
(25:30):
East Coast had a process for flavoring and coloring marachino
cherries at the time. This OSU professor, doctor E. H.
Vinegard specifically came up with the brining process, and I
read that there's a class at OSU called Maraschino Cherry
one oh two. Is this true? Listeners? Is it true?
I think it's true.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I think it is. It was certainly true for a while. Yes,
I hope it's still true. It sounds great.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yes. Quote. The Maraschino Cherries serves as a vehicle from
which faculty give their disciplinary perspective, for example, the chemistry
of the Marachino cherry processing unit, operations, microbiology and food safety,
food law, sensory analysis, product development, and so on. This
laboratory lecture unit was developed to provide reference background information,
(26:19):
including instructions for making Maraschino cherries. How beautiful, more and
more exciting. I got to get in this glass? Can
I take it online? And to this day two of
the biggest manufacturers of marachinos are in organ And if
you're wondering why Oregon, because I was. The state has
a pretty good climate for growing cherries. But again, they
(26:41):
are tough to transport and temperamental, so it makes sense
researchers were working on ways to preserve them prohibition or not.
Before this, Oregon Royal or Queen Anne cherries and US
cherries in general were looked down upon as being inferior
and mushier to their European counterparts. With the threat of
extinction over with, Marashianos made a comeback during PROHIBITIONI dotting
(27:04):
sweets and fruit cups, despite the fact that they weren't
really cherries anymore in the strictest sense. Perhaps the only
remnant of its cherry ancestry was the cellulose, and this
became what people expected when a committee said about defining
the Maraschino in nineteen forty. They concluded that the American
(27:27):
consumer public wanted a cherry that unnaturally read, unnaturally sweet,
and unnaturally flavored with bitter almond oyle. Not only did
the FDA agree, but in nineteen seventy five, so did
an association of Maraschino cherry producers, saying there is no
such thing as a natural Maraschino cherry. Huh yeah, wow,
(27:49):
uh huh. But Americans didn't care. Indeed, this unnatural thing
was all desire. We wanted them in our old fashions
and our whiskey sours, in our aspects, in our sealats.
One recipe from nineteen forty seven for Betty Cracker Maraschino
cake required sixteen maraschinos.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's not that much for a whole cake.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I think it was like, you know, the pineapple slices,
the rings cherries, Yeah, share in the middle. Oh wow.
There was a rumor that got started around this time
that maraschinos were soaked in formaldehyde. Probably I'm mixed up
with benzaldehyde. And this is the same stuff in doctor pepper,
which I do recognize that flavor note. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Be Benzeldehyde is a compound that occurs in both sweet
and sour cherries and also in almonds, which are in
the same genus as cherries, and they're not technically a nut.
There is seed and I had a whole moment at
my desk. I didn't know this, but okay, So anyway,
almonds are a richer source of benzelde hyde than cherries.
(28:58):
So that's why almondac extract is used as an artificial
cherry flavoring.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, we really need to do an almond episode now,
and it's going to be kind of depressing, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Excited about it. Depressing and exciting. Excellent. Marashino liqueur was
very popular around this time too. According to the nineteen
thirty nine. The gentleman's companion. Maraschino is so essential that
no fairly equipped bar can afford to be without it.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Oh, I sort of agree. Meanwhile, World War two would
destroy the original Lexardo distillery and take the lives of
several family members, but one, Giorgio Lexardo, escaped to northern
Italy with a recipe and a morasca sapling after World
War two and was able to restart the business. In
(29:50):
the nineteen sixties, the FDA banned the dyes that had
been most commonly used for Maraschino cherries since the nineteen
twenties due to some cancer concerns. That was Red Red
number four, but producers petitioned the FDA. They said that
the alternative Red number two was too purply and not
light stable enough. And the FDA made an exception, what
(30:16):
only for about six years? But yeah, they were like, yeah, sure, okay,
this has been proven to cause cancer, but it's just
one cherry under normal use conditions. No one's going to
get bladder cancer from a single cherry. Wow, And uh, yeah,
only only for about six years. What a more acceptable
alternative came along in nineteen seventy one, the FDA rescinded
(30:39):
their exception.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
The dye used these days is red dye at number forty,
which is not the one with all the cancer concerns
around it, are not the main one with the cancer
concerns around it. The EU didn't permit the use of
this die until nineteen ninety five. Yeah, as the neon
bright shelf cocktail mixes of the eyes fell out of
style in the nineties, so too did the Marachino. At
(31:05):
the same time, though, bartenders wanted to find a suitable replacement,
and they followed the Maroschino family tree back to nineteen
oh five and the Luxardo cherries, the product of the
Luxardo family. To preserve their cherries, they used beet sugar
and cherry juice syrup. The result was less neon red
and more maroon, and the flavorless punchi or the mouth sweet,
(31:27):
the more almondy, and the more Nashville cherry became the
preferred cherry of cocktails and bartenders, and the demand has
risen so much that the Luxardos had to plant more trees,
like five thousand more trees. A sort of rerigin story
that comes up a lot credits New York City pegu
(31:48):
Club bartender Augrey Saunders with reintroducing America to the Luxordo
cherry in two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That Luxardo brand is still family operated. The seventh generation
currently works there.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Wow, this making some.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Cherries, just making some marichione la corn and some marachino cherries.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Yeah, it's a really interesting. It's been an interesting episode
to research.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Yeah, oh goodness. It really was one of those ones
where I was like, oh, oh, I have fifty tabs open.
How did this happen to me.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
For something that we'd kind of just encounter in very
specific situations? Right, Well, I'm going to go next time
at the store. I'm going to see if I can
find like a blue or bright, like a yellow one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, they've got yellow ones and orange ones.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I don't think I've ever seen them in the wild.
I know I've seen green and red because the green
ones are sometimes popular and like fruitcakes and stuff like that,
especially around Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, but I would love to know from listeners around
the world is the thing elsewhere? I know it is
in Europe, but just curious.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yeah, cocktail cherries is it a thing? Are Maraschino cherries
a thing? Specifically, is anything a thing?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
It's getting deep. It is, and that brings us to
the end of this classic episode. We hope that you
enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed rerunning it. As always,
if you have any uses, memories, suggestions about Maraschino cherries,
please let us know yes, and you can contact us
(33:41):
in a variety of ways. To let us know, you
can email us at Hello, atsavorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod, and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks us always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
(34:08):
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie
Ree and.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Loarn Vocal bumb and today we have a classic
episode for you about Marichino cherries.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, this was a fun one. I remember this one
because I there was a lot I did not know
about Marachino cherries and.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Cherries in general, and uh yeah, yeah this was Oh
this was in August of twenty eighteen. And some of these,
some of these classics that we run, I you know,
like the seeds of everything that we do now are there.
But you can kind of like listen to us developing
(00:47):
the way that we do this show. And furthermore, on
this one in particular, I'm like, oh, those sweet innocent
babies that we were, like, we just had so much
hope and bounce in our voices.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh yeah, we were in our new, a new hope era.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah. Was there any particular reason this one was on
your mind to rerun, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I was sort of looking through the back catalog and
it it this one. Yeah, this one was fun, and
I guess kind of goes along with a sort of
summer theme of of nice, nice Sundays and cocktails and
all of that sort of thing. Also, I don't think
that we said this in the original, so hey, drink responsibly.
(01:40):
This isn't necessarily an alcohol episode, but it is very
alcohol adjacent, so important note.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, and I will say, I know I've talked about
this before. I am about to go to the beach
sure as we recorded this episode. Yes, and there's a
drink called a bushwhacker where I typically go that. It's
kind of Florida, South Alabama is where it's from, and
(02:12):
it's just it's basically just like a chocolate milkshake. But
I do love it, and it does come with it
comes with like the very radioactive in heavy quotes Maraschino cherry.
So it is appropriate for me that we're running this
right now.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, yeah, heck, I don't think. I don't think I've
had I haven't had a Marshino cherry in a hot minute.
I went through early in the pandemic. I went through
I like, I was like, Okay, I'm going to have
to learn how to make a Manhattan at home. Not
that it's difficult to do, but I was just like,
I need I need to feel I need to feel civilized,
(02:52):
which is terrible. There's twenty eight million other ways to
feel civilized, but for some reason, a Manhattan cocktail is
what I decided to do.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So I went.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I made myself a lot of them early in the pandemic,
not like in one day, but you know, yeah, but yeah,
that was my like go to cocktail for a couple months.
And I think I might have like run myself dry
on on that.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And the Marachino cherry. Yeah, there used to be a
place in our old office, and I talk about this
in here. I believe that that was like the first
time I had not the super bright red cherry, and
my mind was blown. I was like, oh my gosh,
these can be they can have flavor, it can be
(03:42):
like not a sugar bombs punch. There is a time
and place for both all types. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Also yeah, if if if you like the kind of
radioactive ones, then do what you want. Yeah, they're not radioactive,
that's not why they're that color.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
No, they are not, but they are very vibrant and
eye catching. And this weekend I will be having one.
So yeah, no judgment from me.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
No judgment, basically, no judgment ever. Maybe strong opinions sometimes,
but no judgment.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, I guess we should let pass.
Annie and Lauren take it away. Hello, and welcome to
food Stuff. I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Baum, and today we're talking about Marashiino.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Cherries, indeed the cherry Young Chuck, which was definitely my
least favorite part of dessert as a kid.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Oh really, Oh, I loved him.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
As a kid. Really. Yeah, they were so red that
the color is intriguing, and we will talk a lot
about that. I did just drive mirror hours ago. I
was at the beach louren Ago Goodness, and a popular
drink in LA which here stands for Lower Alabama, is
called the Bushwhacker, which is essentially like a grown up milkshake,
(05:13):
but not as sweet as a mudslide. I like them
a lot, okay, but they always, except for my favorite one,
most of them come with a cherry, a bright Marachino cherry,
and it's probably the only time of year I encounter
them these days. Yeah, yes, that is a true statement.
I was going to say, except we did get one
on our dacory, but that was not a Maraschino cherry.
(05:34):
That's a different type of cherry that we will be
talking about as well.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, that is also a marachino cherry.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It's just a different cherry. Okay, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yes, there's there's some words that are happening here, and
I do call those neon red ones like cancer cherries now,
because I feel like the flavor profile is mostly cancer.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah. You bite into it and you're like, like hints
of cancer.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, okay, very cancer forward.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Here's a cancer for it is not something that I
would like a product of mine to be described as.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But yeah, I'm probably not making any friends in marketing right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Now, I don't think so. So here we're going to
start a quote with a quote for this episode. Anybody
that's poured a fair share of drinks in their life
would never complain about a Maraschino cherry. It's like getting
mad at soda water. Oh yeah, and this is from
the owner of Portland's Matador, Angelo Pucinelli. I'm sorry if
(06:30):
I mis pronounce your name, and the kind of One
of the reasons we're talking about this is because our
colleague Robert Lamb wrote an article a while back and
sent it to us.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, he wrote an article for Atlas obscura or a
gastro obscura, specifically called how a vibrant factory made sweet
usurped the original Marachino cherry. So yeah, thanks to him
for the topic tip and also for the excellent transition
with that title to our favorite.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Question, Maraschino cherries. What are they?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And it's a pretty good question in this case.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It is an excellent question.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, a Marishano cherry is at its core, at its pit,
at its pitless core, a sweetened preserved cherry with or
without its stem and its pit. But there are two
essential forms of the Marishina cherry, the kind preserved in
sweetened cherry juice or cherry licore, and the kind preserved
in sweetened other stuff. The former tends to be a
(07:30):
deep scarlet red in color with like a rich, bright
flavor and an almost gummy type chew, like gummy candy
sort of chew, And the latter tends to be a
sort of day glow, a semi transparent shade of red
with a sweet sort of like cherry lollipop flavor and
a little bit of a crunch like an apple, not
like a granola.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The latter can also come in other colors, notably day
glow or shamrock green, but also yellow orange and blue,
and can come in flavors other than cherry. Really, there
are some of the blue ones are like blue raspberry flavored.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh my goodness, I did not know this, of course
they are. Of course you typically find these bright red
fruits on top of Sundays are garnishing certain cocktails, like
say a Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And these days that first less science y kind can
also be found in cocktails. Again, yes, and how these
two products that are quite different, yes, inexperience came to
be known by the same name is a matter of history.
But for now, let's talk about the science of how
(08:35):
they happen.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, because there is a lot of science involved.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yes, well, there's science in both versions, because it's preservation.
You're looking to preserve cherries so that you know, bacteria
and mold and stuff won't eat them before you get
a chance to. And that's all science. But okay, let's
start with the kind that's made with cherry juice or
(09:03):
cherry booze. The type of cherries used for these is
typically a sour or tart cherries, any of several varieties
within the species Prunus sarassis, and there are two main
subgroups here. The nearly black maroon, super tart morellos which
are pigmented red all the way through, and the lighter
or brighter red kind of medium tart morell or Kentish
(09:26):
cherries which have a clear yellow, pinkish flesh. The classic
sour cherry used for Maraschino cherries is called the marasca.
I feel like I just said that in the most
American way possible.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I know that that's more correct, but I always say
mascara in my head because it's kind of close there
they are. It's definitely not the mascara. It is not
the mascara cherry.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's a different thing, the morasca, and it is a
type of morello. And the cherries for this process are
an as salt solution for at least half a day
to again prevent microbial growth, then rinsed really well and
then soaked in a solution of sugar and cherry juice
packed and the jar will be pasteurized to inactivate any
(10:13):
unwelcome microbes like Clistridium bochylinum. Yeah, that could make people
sick down the line. Traditionally they were instead of being
brined first, maybe just soaked in alcohol because that will
also pretty much keep bacteria at bay.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah. Meanwhile, the Marichiano cherries produced via the more modern
preservation sciences are almost certainly made from sweet cherries any
of several varieties within the species Prunus avium, and here
in the United States it's probably the variety royal ann
or queen Anne cherries. These are similar to to rainier
(10:53):
cherries if you've ever seen those in your supermarket. They're
kind of like golden blush colored and way less acidic
and more sugary aka sweeter than any of those cherries
over in the tart Prunus sarassis species. And I didn't
know that these were two separate species technically, but they are.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I really know very little about cherries.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Are apparently, so okay, okay, you again are going to
want to brind these cherries, but in this case you're
going to do it in two different preservative solutions. First
a sodium sulfite solution and then a sodium chlorite solution,
And this will prevent most yeast mold bacteria stuff like
(11:32):
that from growing in the cherries, but it will also
leach out their color, giving you after the first solution
these pale yellow cherries with maybe some brown from any
bruising they've experienced. And then after the second one, snowy
white cherries huh, which weird, weird looking.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Can you imagine like having vanilla ice cream and then
the white white cherry weird? Don't like it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And this process actually takes a couple of weeks. You
then pit the cherries and wash out all the brine,
which is such a thorough process that it also removes
basically anything that's water soluble, like sugars and flavors. None
of the brine should be in the cherries by the
time they get to you. But still it's pretty nasty stuff,
and disposing of it is apparently a really huge environmental
(12:20):
and economic problem.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
In the industry. Yeah, yeah, no good.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So, okay, you've got this blank canvas of cherry that
it's still technically a cherry, I suppose, but you need
to add any kind of flavor or color back in.
So yeah, solution of sugar, flavor, coloring and a few
preservatives like a potassium sorbit and sodium benzoate to prevent
(12:47):
microbial growth and to thus make the final product shelf stable,
because we like things to be shelf stable.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We do.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
We do like that this sugar and stuff solution actually
has to be introduced in like dilute stages, stepping up
over a period of days or even weeks to prevent
the fruit from like essentially exploding at like a at
like a cellular level and just mushing all to hell.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So like a cherry bomb. Yeah. Oh hey, that's my
revenge karaoke song by the way.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh wow, Yeah, so that's serious.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
If I'm ever singing that in you're around, somebody in
the crowd has done something, probably doesn't remember. It's no
idea I'm up there, because that's how revenge schemes go.
Let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's not what they're known for.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Oh well, but I but I hay, you know, I
think that's probably the best way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I feel like I'm accomplished, right, as long as you
feel good about it. Yeah, that's the most important part,
it is. Yeah. After all that though, that the cherries
can be you know, packed and pasteurized.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, and something that never occurred to me. You can
make your own and now I really want to.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah. Yeah, if you're gonna you can use sweet cherries.
But I would personally recommend trying to find yourself some
sour cherries here in the States. They're they're kind of
hard to find fresh unless you live in the Pacific Northwest,
where most of them are grown, but you can find
them canned or preferably frozen. And Montmorency cherries are maybe
the most common around here, and although the brand Luxardo
(14:31):
no longer preserves their cherries and liquor it is. It
is easier you can skip that brining step. There are
lots of recipes online if you want to do this
kind of thing technically. There is a recipe up for
the modern science kind too. It was published in the
Journal of Food Science Education in two thousand and nine.
But yes, doing that one involves a deeper familiarity with
(14:56):
chemistry practices. Then I am personal cup personally comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, that seems like a too much work for something
I'll probably just show off one time.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And be like, look at this science cherry I made.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The end. Probably don't eat it. I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And speaking of oh nutrition, yeah, obviously perhaps this will
differ depending on what type of marachino cherry you're talking about,
but the serving size for these things is typically a
single cherry, yeah, you know, which will run you about
like ten calories in terms of sugar content, and an
(15:42):
insignificant amount of anything else. Right to quote from that
piece in the in the Journal of Food Science Education,
Maraschino cherries are not intended to be a significant contributor
to our nutritional well being. Their role is to make
food more appealing and, by doing so, stimulate food consumption.
Hospital dietitians are aware of this and will often place
a Marchino cherry on a grapefruit or fruit salad to
(16:04):
make their patient's meal more attractive and special.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Oh well, that's nice. I mean they are eye catching.
They are. It's like if I had a choice between
a grapefruit with a cherry and one with out a cherry,
I would go for the cherry.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Sure, I mean, I mean I think I've definitely ordered
cocktails before because I knew that there was going to
be a cherry in them. Really yeah, usually the sour cherry.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah. Yeah, those are good. Those are good. Well, these
cherries have quite an interesting history, and we will get
into that, but first we're going to take a quick
break for a word from our sponsor. And we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Thank you, yes, thank you. So Okay, at some point
in the way back having been imported from Central Asia.
A few varieties of sour cherries developed around Central Europe,
and one famous type was the marasca cherry. It grew
in the sandy soil of modern day Croatia's Dalmatia coastal area,
(17:20):
across the Adriatic Sea from northern Italy.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The Maraschino cherry was meant to be a replacement for
those difficult, easily bruisible, hard to transport cherries. And looking
for ways to get around this, some cherry farmers in
a couple of different areas around Europe, like Croatia, got
the idea to brine the cherries and saltwater and then
soak them in liquor that was made out of cherries.
Around Germany this was called Kershfassar, and around Italy it
(17:46):
was called Maraschino liquor. All parts of the cherries too,
the pits, the stems, the leaves and yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Marischino is a type of fruit brandy made from crushing
whole marasca cherries, letting them firm, and then distilling the
whole mess and and the pits give it part of
its its nutty bitter flavor. Marasca, by the way, is
a shortening of amarasca, which in turn comes from the
Italian word for bitter, amorrow, which traces back to the
Latin for bitter, which I didn't write down.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So that's very useful.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Also, i've heard that that, speaking of speaking of mispronouncing
things and or not writing them down, I've heard that
that it should actually be maraschino.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, when you're.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Talking about the liquor. Oh really, but I'm not. I'm
so sorry. I'm just not going to say that it's gonna.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I can't. I can't today. I've got a lot. This
is a battle we cannot win.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, I'm just gonna stick with Maraschino.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah. I did see that too, and I was in
the article. It was like, I think you'll be forgiven,
and I said, I hope so I knock on wood,
I said, I hope so to no one in particular
standing alone at my.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Disk, But yes, so so on. One type of this
of this cherry brandy, essentially flavored with rose petals, called
rosolio Marschino, was extra popular. It had been in the
region since medieval times and was made by nuns in convents.
All right, nuns, Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In the eighteen twenties. That's when the Lexardo family, Yes,
that Lexardo family moved to Zeidar, Croatia from Genova and
started making their version of Marischino liquor. By nineteen oh five,
they were also using this to preserve cherries. Cocktail chairs
were really popular around this time too, but around nineteen
(19:37):
hundred they were replaced with olives. The cocktail olive. An
eighteen ninety nine article from The Rasting Daily illustrates this quote.
In some of the swell Uptown establishments, the cocktail olive
is getting in its work and bids fair to supplant
the twosome cherry with the public. Ah, I've never really
put together that. Yeah, they are pretty similar in shape,
(20:00):
and like, if you're hungry and you order a cocktail,
you're going to get one with another, a cherry or
and all of I just never really put it together.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I always consider an all of martini to be basically
a snack.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It does feel kind of snackish. Now ready for transport,
cherries made the trip across the ocean to the United States,
and by the end of the nineteenth century this cherry
started appearing around the country on ice cream and custards.
In salads, where it was seen as the difference between
it a so so salad and a superior dish worthy
(20:32):
of praise. Kind of going back to that grapefruit with
the cherry or not, it made a big difference. The
real thing was expensive, a luxury, but there was a
cheaper version available from France that was made with dyes
and sugar, and recipes for preserved cherries appeared before that
in America, including in The Complete Housewife in seventeen forty two. Yeah,
(20:57):
And of course cocktails. It was a popular practice to
garnish a cocktail with fruit, and when this tender, jarred,
long lasting, bright red fruit came around, bartenders rejoiced. It
was a big deal, so big that in nineteen oh six,
The New York Times wrote about the cherry quote, the
(21:17):
cherry in the seductive beverage is calmly looked upon as
an added temptation for the one who imbibes, and that,
for women, prime reason for partaking of the liquid.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, and it went on. A young woman engaged a
room at a fashionable hotel, and after ordering a Manhattan cocktail,
immediately sent for another. Soon she was ordering them by
the dozen. The management interfered, and someone was sent to
expostulate with her, also to find out how she had
been able to consume so many cocktails. She was found
(21:52):
surrounded by the full glasses, with the cherry gone.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I feel like that's probably apocryphal, but it is no
less delightful for that back.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I don't know why she didn't just call out and say, you.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Feel like, hey, can I get a jar of these cherries?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I can't imagine order. I'll take twelve Manhattan's please.
Just don't think that'd fly. No. A mere five years later, though,
things changed for the Maraschino. Its reputation soured, the culprit
(22:31):
a market flooded with fakes. These fakes were bad news.
The red color was achieved with a coal tar byproduct.
The flavor was far sweeter, usually due to artificial sweeteners,
than the original cherries. The New York Times, singing the
praises years earlier, really changed their tune, describing them as
quote toughened and reduced to the semblance of a formless,
(22:52):
gummy lump by long imprisonment in a bottle, that they
were an abomination, and their utter un fitness has been manifested.
We trust that it will disappear. That's it really took
a steep fall right there. Spoiler alert. Though it did
(23:13):
not disappear. I know we're all surprised. It did go
through two redefinitions, the first courtesy of the Pure Food
and Drug Act of nineteen oh six. The Act defined
maraschinos as quote bottled in marachino liquor and not in
a compound of benzaldehyde, oil of almonds, and glucose, but
still imitations. Galore pushed the FDA to release a statement
(23:34):
clarifying the difference between a maraschino and an imitation. But
despite all of this, Americans couldn't seem to get enough
of them. A nineteen to fifteen New York Agricultural Experiment
Station report attributed to quote the fashion of adding preserved
cherries as much for ornamentation as to give flavor to
many drinks and ices.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, makes them more special, it does. And this brings
us to a section on something that changed most things
in the drink world here in the United States, with
ripples out everywhere else. Prohibition. Yes, but first it brings
us to another quick break for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
And we're back. Thank you. Sponsor, Yes, thank you. Yeah,
so prohibition this did in fact impact Maraschino cherries because
it was decreed that they could no longer be preserved
in alcohol. A scientist at Oregon State University, seeing like
a cherry signal in the sky, would not let the
(24:46):
maraschino fade out of existence. Nay. He used a non
alcoholic solution with calcium salts, which prevented muchiness, but did
leach some white to brain them. And then they were pitted,
and this process was completed, the cherries could be flavored
and died and yeah not just ready. There. For a while,
bright green and bright blue were pretty common, kind of
(25:09):
a fad. But this whole porrhibition story is it a myth,
a conspiracy? Possibly the Oregon State University professor had been
working on a way to preserve the cherries that didn't
require alcohol because the alcohol makes them shrunken and wrinkly,
and prohibition was just a happy coincidence. Maybe. Also, the
(25:30):
East Coast had a process for flavoring and coloring marachino
cherries at the time. This OSU professor, doctor E. H.
Vinegard specifically came up with the brining process, and I
read that there's a class at OSU called Maraschino Cherry
one oh two. Is this true? Listeners? Is it true?
I think it's true.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I think it is. It was certainly true for a while. Yes,
I hope it's still true. It sounds great.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yes. Quote. The Maraschino Cherries serves as a vehicle from
which faculty give their disciplinary perspective, for example, the chemistry
of the Marachino cherry processing unit, operations, microbiology and food safety,
food law, sensory analysis, product development, and so on. This
laboratory lecture unit was developed to provide reference background information,
(26:19):
including instructions for making Maraschino cherries. How beautiful, more and
more exciting. I got to get in this glass? Can
I take it online? And to this day two of
the biggest manufacturers of marachinos are in organ And if
you're wondering why Oregon, because I was. The state has
a pretty good climate for growing cherries. But again, they
(26:41):
are tough to transport and temperamental, so it makes sense
researchers were working on ways to preserve them prohibition or not.
Before this, Oregon Royal or Queen Anne cherries and US
cherries in general were looked down upon as being inferior
and mushier to their European counterparts. With the threat of
extinction over with, Marashianos made a comeback during PROHIBITIONI dotting
(27:04):
sweets and fruit cups, despite the fact that they weren't
really cherries anymore in the strictest sense. Perhaps the only
remnant of its cherry ancestry was the cellulose, and this
became what people expected when a committee said about defining
the Maraschino in nineteen forty. They concluded that the American
(27:27):
consumer public wanted a cherry that unnaturally read, unnaturally sweet,
and unnaturally flavored with bitter almond oyle. Not only did
the FDA agree, but in nineteen seventy five, so did
an association of Maraschino cherry producers, saying there is no
such thing as a natural Maraschino cherry. Huh yeah, wow,
(27:49):
uh huh. But Americans didn't care. Indeed, this unnatural thing
was all desire. We wanted them in our old fashions
and our whiskey sours, in our aspects, in our sealats.
One recipe from nineteen forty seven for Betty Cracker Maraschino
cake required sixteen maraschinos.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's not that much for a whole cake.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I think it was like, you know, the pineapple slices,
the rings cherries, Yeah, share in the middle. Oh wow.
There was a rumor that got started around this time
that maraschinos were soaked in formaldehyde. Probably I'm mixed up
with benzaldehyde. And this is the same stuff in doctor pepper,
which I do recognize that flavor note. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Be Benzeldehyde is a compound that occurs in both sweet
and sour cherries and also in almonds, which are in
the same genus as cherries, and they're not technically a nut.
There is seed and I had a whole moment at
my desk. I didn't know this, but okay, So anyway,
almonds are a richer source of benzelde hyde than cherries.
(28:58):
So that's why almondac extract is used as an artificial
cherry flavoring.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, we really need to do an almond episode now,
and it's going to be kind of depressing, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Excited about it. Depressing and exciting. Excellent. Marashino liqueur was
very popular around this time too. According to the nineteen
thirty nine. The gentleman's companion. Maraschino is so essential that
no fairly equipped bar can afford to be without it.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Oh, I sort of agree. Meanwhile, World War two would
destroy the original Lexardo distillery and take the lives of
several family members, but one, Giorgio Lexardo, escaped to northern
Italy with a recipe and a morasca sapling after World
War two and was able to restart the business. In
(29:50):
the nineteen sixties, the FDA banned the dyes that had
been most commonly used for Maraschino cherries since the nineteen
twenties due to some cancer concerns. That was Red Red
number four, but producers petitioned the FDA. They said that
the alternative Red number two was too purply and not
light stable enough. And the FDA made an exception, what
(30:16):
only for about six years? But yeah, they were like, yeah, sure, okay,
this has been proven to cause cancer, but it's just
one cherry under normal use conditions. No one's going to
get bladder cancer from a single cherry. Wow, And uh, yeah,
only only for about six years. What a more acceptable
alternative came along in nineteen seventy one, the FDA rescinded
(30:39):
their exception.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
The dye used these days is red dye at number forty,
which is not the one with all the cancer concerns
around it, are not the main one with the cancer
concerns around it. The EU didn't permit the use of
this die until nineteen ninety five. Yeah, as the neon
bright shelf cocktail mixes of the eyes fell out of
style in the nineties, so too did the Marachino. At
(31:05):
the same time, though, bartenders wanted to find a suitable replacement,
and they followed the Maroschino family tree back to nineteen
oh five and the Luxardo cherries, the product of the
Luxardo family. To preserve their cherries, they used beet sugar
and cherry juice syrup. The result was less neon red
and more maroon, and the flavorless punchi or the mouth sweet,
(31:27):
the more almondy, and the more Nashville cherry became the
preferred cherry of cocktails and bartenders, and the demand has
risen so much that the Luxardos had to plant more trees,
like five thousand more trees. A sort of rerigin story
that comes up a lot credits New York City pegu
(31:48):
Club bartender Augrey Saunders with reintroducing America to the Luxordo
cherry in two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That Luxardo brand is still family operated. The seventh generation
currently works there.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Wow, this making some.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Cherries, just making some marichione la corn and some marachino cherries.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Yeah, it's a really interesting. It's been an interesting episode
to research.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Yeah, oh goodness. It really was one of those ones
where I was like, oh, oh, I have fifty tabs open.
How did this happen to me.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
For something that we'd kind of just encounter in very
specific situations? Right, Well, I'm going to go next time
at the store. I'm going to see if I can
find like a blue or bright, like a yellow one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, they've got yellow ones and orange ones.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I don't think I've ever seen them in the wild.
I know I've seen green and red because the green
ones are sometimes popular and like fruitcakes and stuff like that,
especially around Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, but I would love to know from listeners around
the world is the thing elsewhere? I know it is
in Europe, but just curious.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yeah, cocktail cherries is it a thing? Are Maraschino cherries
a thing? Specifically, is anything a thing?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
It's getting deep. It is, and that brings us to
the end of this classic episode. We hope that you
enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed rerunning it. As always,
if you have any uses, memories, suggestions about Maraschino cherries,
please let us know yes, and you can contact us
(33:41):
in a variety of ways. To let us know, you
can email us at Hello, atsavorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod, and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks us always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
(34:08):
your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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