Visinata – Romanian sour cherry liqueur

Visinata from Romania: Romanian sour cherry liqueur with a taste like no other

Visinata is a fruit liqueur. It takes its name from the Romanian word for sour cherries or “visine”, which is transformed into “visinata” for sour cherry liqueur.

Sour cherries are a rather rare type of cherry in Western Europe, but still very widespread in the east of the continent. It is highly prized for its bitter taste and its woody fragrance, uncommon to that of the classic cherry.

The harvest occurs at the same time as the classic cherries but lasts less time.

Visinata is a very popular spirit with the ladies in Transylvania. It also has cousins made from other fruitsq: coacazata (from blackcurrant), afinata (from blueberries), zmeurata (from raspberries), etc…

Recipe for Sour cherry liqueur visinata: – 3kg of fruit for 1kg of sugar. Mix the 2 in a transparent container, preferably glass, and leave to macerate for a few days in the sun (2 or 3 days are usually enough). Do not hesitate to gently stir the mixture when there is still a little unmelted sugar at the bottom of the container. – When the sugar is completely melted and the cherries have extracted their juice, add 600ml of alcohol at 96° for 3kg of fruit. It is then necessary to leave the mixture to macerate for at least another 5 to 6 weeks to extract all the aromas of the fruits in the alcohol. Avoid using plum or unrefined alcohol, which would give flavor to the liqueur and spoil that of the cherries. If you can’t get alcohol at 95°, you can use vodka at 40°-45°, but your liquor will inevitably be less alcoholic. – You can finally bottle it by separating fruit liqueur. You can keep the fruits in a jar, because they have absorbed alcohol and will release it over time. It also makes very good cherries in brandy! ?

Click HERE to discover all our liqueurs from Transylvania.