In 2013 I transcribed a recipe from La Tasse Cafe radio program about a curious drink called cherry bounce:
"Cherry Bounce is a thick sweet strong liqueur that people in south Louisiana make around the holidays. You shake the wild cherry trees (merisiers) so that the berries, called merises or choke cherries, fall onto a sheet."From that time on I began spotting wild cherry trees in our tree lines and around town or at the camp. This was my process with many plants. Every year we would check for the cherry trees and gather from the most reliable ones considering access, height, severity of bird strike, yearly production changes or other challenges. Over the years, my knowledge of where the best producing trees are has grown. This year I have become especially good at spotting the trees and the season is long and plentiful, possibly because of the snows. I have spent the entire month of May and half of June daily checking my cherry trees and it is a fulfilling activity for me. I go to my little tree, gather enough for the day, then gage if I have enough for another fifth, and should I stop in at Russel's for it. As I pick along the Teche, I can hear the bells of the church ring on the half hour. It's just me and the birds. My cousin Paula told me that my great grandfather also made cherry bounce. I've been making it for about ten years and never knew that, but my yearly focus on this process feels like it must be hereditary.
I have a list that I wrote of where to find the cherry trees but I may have augmented it for my own bounce security.
Les merisiers:
2 in the garden at the house with swamp rose, pomegranate, muscadine and grape vines
1 in the eastern tree line in the front (could not locate 2025)
1 Prairie Laurent Dolla Store (big daddy)
2 on the Bayou Teche, pas loin de l'eglise
4 au moins à l’Academie de Sacré Cœur treeline Grand Coteau
1 at the mound site Bayou Bourbeux Road
2 on the Main Drag à Carencro (did not access)
2 on I-49 at exit 11 near the cypress place (trop haut, trop traffic, et dans les herbes)
2 Chicot woods island à Nonc Den
Here is the recipe I transcribed from the Mercedes Vidrine cookbook via la Tasse de Café radio Program.
I should note that I go heavy on the cherries, lighter on the sugar, and I do not do the aging process with just cherries and sugar. I prefer to wash and dry the cherries, admire them, fill a bottle up 1/3 with them, cover with 1/3 sugar and fill to the top with whisky. I let that age for a month or two, shaking every week and quality control testing every few days.
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