Cherry Caipiroska (a vodka cocktail)

Fruit 

Berries and stone fruit are always at the top of my list when it comes to adding fruit to drinks that already use limes and sugar.

Strawberry caipiroska is one of the best, and probably the most popular, but we already have a Strawberry Passion Fruit Caipirinha in this blog.

And they are pretty similar, except for the type of alcohol used. This recipe here is friends with vodka. I think cherries partner very well with vodka, hence this cherry caipiroska.

How to make cherry caipiroska

1. Put sugar and pitted chopped cherries lime and sugar in the glasses where you want to serve the drink (images 1 and 2).
2. With a muddler (a bartender tool used to mash or muddle fruit, similar to the pestle) mash the fruit and sugar. It will start to release juices and become soupy (image 3). In the image above I am using a pestle (from the mortar) because I had no muddler. Shame on me! (you can insert whatever embarrassing emoji you want)
3. Add vodka and ice (image 4).
4. Drink before it waters down too much.

The main part of a cherry caipiroska is the muddling (a new word I learned from fellow blogger Liz, a recent caipirinha lover!) of the limes with the sugar.

What is muddling

It means that you put the lime wedges and the sugar in the bottom of the glass, and, with the right gadget, a muddler (not the pestle I borrowed from my mortar...) you crush both together, slowly and with decisiveness until both become best friends and you can't tell one from the other, sort of (second-row images above, left).

This will bring out the oils in the lime peel and is essential for the cocktail.  And no, adding lime juice and zest is not the same thing. You have to muddle.

In this case, cherries were thrown into the party too. Cherry caipiroska baby.

Then you add ice, almost filling the glass, and then the vodka. And then you need something to stir, like a cocktail straw. Or a wooden spoon, like I did here. So you stir until it's all purple and mixed (images below).

Yeah, a pestle instead of a muddler and a spoon instead of a straw. The horror, I know. I understand if you don't take me seriously.

The ice

Now. About the ice and the vodka.

If you add very crushed ice, the kind that will dissolve in a mere minute because the rest of the stuff in the glass is at room tº, your drink will be watered down too fast and five minutes later you will have no interest in it. 

If you add big rocks of ice, you'll have to stir for five minutes first, before starting to sip it. And you might drink almost straight vodka instead of the caipiroska we're aiming for here. 

So medium ice works. I used home ice because this is a homemade drink.

I know, I really should get myself the right utensils if I want to talk about drinks.

Kitchen notes

• Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
• Cherries: choose fruit that is sweet and flavorful. You can add some fresh mint too and muddle it with the cherries.
• Ice: I use regular ice from my home freezer. But if you have access to more professional larger ice cubes so much the better. They last more so the drink takes longer to water down.
• Glasses: use glasses that can hold everything and have a flat base. You need it to muddle without breaking it (seriously, it almost happened to me once). Don’t use martini glasses for example.
• Fruit: you can use other fruits, but sweet in-season cherries are wonderful. Be careful not to add too much. Test it with one drink. You should taste both the fruits and the liquor. If you use too much fruit you won’t have enough space for the ice and the balance will not be right. I have made it with strawberries and passion fruit too. It is fabulous.
• Personal taste: adjust sugar, ice, and vodka to your taste (image below, before adding the liquor). And use that ratio as a guide no matter what fruit you use.
• Sweetener: you can use simple syrup instead of sugar. To make it, simply heat the same amount of sugar and water (½ cup of each for example), and when it comes to a boil remove it from the heat. Let cool completely and keep refrigerated.