Editor’s Note: Long-time Italy Segreta Contributor Valeria Necchio shared this recipe with us from her debut cookbook, Veneto: Recipes from an Italian Country Kitchen, and we can’t think of a better (or easier) way to preserve these plump summer fruits. 

The big cherry tree in Grandma’s garden produced fruits that were unlike any other we could find at the market. Small, scarlet, sweet-with-a-slight-sourness, they were excellent in any form: straight from the fruit bowl, in cakes, or drowned in liqueur. Indeed, the cherries bobbing in jars in the pantry–drunk, spirited–were always “our cherries”: no one would have ever dared drowning plump and prized duroni or ciliegie di Marostica* in alcohol. Those were reserved for eating only. 

Preserving cherries in alcohol is hardly a novelty, nor is it exclusive to Veneto. But it is an idea we have been implementing for a while, using grappa as the liqueur of choice. When the fruits are left to bathe in it for a while, they create a cherry-flavored spirit that is delightful sipped at the end of a meal, better still after a bowl of cherry-rippled ice cream. The aromatics I list here are just a suggestion: vanilla works well, too, as does orange or lemon zest. And if cherries are not easy to come across where you are, try tiny plums such as mirabelles or damsons. As for the kind of grappa, opt for a neutral-flavored sort; the cherries will impart plenty of flavor to it. And if grappa isn’t your thing, dry gin is a good (if only more aromatic) alternative. 

*Veneto has a time-honored and flourishing cherry production. The town of Marostica, near Vicenza, is especially renowned for its excellent cherries, which bear the IGP seal, as well as for its yearly competition aimed at crowning the best cherry variety in the country. 

CILIEGIE ALLA GRAPPA

Makes 3 x 500ML (1-pint) jars

INGREDIENTS

• 800g (1lb 12oz) cherries 
• 250g (1 1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• Grappa (40–45% alcohol)
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves 

PREPARATION

1. Wash the cherries thoroughly and pat them dry. Trim the stems, but leave a small portion intact and still attached to the fruit. 
2. Fill 3 x 500ml (1-pint) jars (ensure that they are thoroughly clean and dry) with layers of cherries alternated with layers of sugar, making sure that the fruits are tightly packed but leaving about 2cm (3⁄4 inch) clear from the rim. 
3. Place 1 cinnamon stick and 2 cloves in each jar, and top with grappa until the fruits are completely covered. Close tightly with new, clean, dry lids, and leave to mature somewhere cool and preferably dark for at least 2 months (or, even better, 6). During the first 2 weeks, shake the contents regularly to ensure that the sugar doesn’t deposit at the bottom. Consume within 1 year.