Cherry Fizz recipe and Tarragon Tarkhun

I am not a good drinker. Hmm, I just reread that and it sounds like I'm saying I can't hold my liqueur. Well, that is very true. I enjoy cooking with alcohol, but not imbibing it. No, I am truly not a good drinker, as in I simply don't drink. Water? Yeck. As W.C Fields once said, "I don't drink water. You know what fish do in it." Tea? Only if it's sweet, but not toothcracking sweet. And even then I don't drink enough to keep a fly alive. What I really love is a sparkling fruit juice, like those bottles of Sparkling White Grape Juice. Man, oh man, I could slurp down a crate of those babies. But it's a big splurge to pay three bucks and then have an empty glass bottle that either you have to find a place to recycle, or you throw away and just let the guilt eat you.

So I am often trying new drinks, new ways to get myself to drink, if you will. This time it was when I had my bowl of fresh cherries. It just so happened I had pinned a post about making a Cherry Sipper on Pinterest. I had cherries and the recipe- onward, I say!

 For the cherry mixture, you need 3 cups of pitted cherries. You put these into a small saucepan with 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 2 tsp of water. Simmer for about 7 minutes until it begins to get syrupy. Pour into a blender and whizz until it is to the consistency you want. There is still supposed to be some pulp so that you can tell if it real fruit, but you don't want to have to chew your drink. I made it smooth enough to go through a straw. I adore straws! But I only use paper ones, not plastic. And preferably cute ones ;)

 Refrigerate your cherry mix, covered, until you want to use it. If you like the look of serving a bi-colored drink, pour the seltzer water gently over the back of a spoon so it doesn't stir the bottom. The recipe said that now you could add 1 oz of vodka if you wanted. I didn't want.

 Look how gorgeous and perfectly slurpy it looks! It actually makes me want to drink it- mission accomplished! The lady put a sprig of thyme in her drink, not sure why. Everything I've ever heard or read about cooking decries the use of a garnish that has nothing to do with your dish. But I wanted a pretty herb in mine, and I wanted to use it as a swizzle stick to mix it up. I picked a good strong stem of mint and stripped the bottom leaves.

 When I stirred it up, the mint oil from the stem leached into the drink. Who knew that cherry and mint were a match made in drinky heaven? And I love that the mint was in flower. Talk about my kidneys applauding. A beautiful drink, fresh fruit and herbs, and I was gulping it down. That gave me the encouragement to try another drink mixer...

 
This recipe actually came from a Milk Street magazine that a friend of mine (hello, Ms. Beth!!) was so kind as to give me. The article was about a tarragon-based drink called Tarkhun which they said was "an effervescent herbal cooler from Georgia". No, not the little country beside Alabama, the little country beside Russia. I had been so very pleased to find a tarragon plant at Atwood's this year, and I added it to my herb bed, thinking of all the wonderful things I would do with the French herb. I soon figured out that the plant actually tastes like sucking a big chunk of black licorice. Did you wince? I know I did just writing it. Black licorice is one of those flavors that only appeal to certain people, my Pop being one of them.


I was so glad that I realized this before I made a French Chicken with Tarragon recipe I had been saving. I really cannot wrap my mind around what a black licorice chicken would taste like. I keep envisioning those little black licorice candy pipes they used to sell, only in a chicken shape. Ewww.

But the plant, like most plants that you realize you don't really want, flourished and spread. I had a whole bush of the stuff just daring me to use it in something. And here comes a recipe that requires a whole cup of the herb and doesn't ask for any expensive ingredients. That meant I could throw the whole mess away if it was terrible, instead of forcing myself to suck it down while gagging all the while.

To make the drink you start off boiling a simple syrup and adding a cup of tarragon, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, and baking soda. You blend all this, chill it, strain it, and then pour it over crushed ice and top with seltzer. 

It wasn't terrible. It was definitely herbal-y and tonic-y, just like they said. It was refreshing. But you only needed about a 1/4 inch of Tarkhun to a glass full of seltzer. Any more and it would be pretty bad.

So it was fun to try and cost next to nothing. And yes, I made myself drink all that it made, liberally cut with seltzer. Will I make it again? Nope. I figure I don't need liquid quite that bad ;)

But the cherry sipper, now that was downright tasty. Perhaps I will be hydrated for a day or two. That is, till the cherries run out...

 Light-bulb moment- What about frozen cherries?? I foresee drinking this in the depths of winter and laughing manically at the cold outside...