Editing Maraschino cherry

{{Short description|Preserved, sweetened cherry}}
{{About|the fruit|the film by Radley Metzger|Maraschino Cherry (film){{!}}''Maraschino Cherry'' (film)}}
{{distinguish|Glacé fruit}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[File:Real maraschino cherries.jpg|thumb|[[Girolamo Luxardo|Luxardo]]-brand maraschino cherries]]
[[File:Macromaraschino.jpg|thumb|Close-up, maraschino cherry]]

A '''maraschino cherry''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ær|ə|ˈ|s|k|iː|n|oʊ|,_|-|ˈ|ʃ|iː|-}} {{respell|MARR|ə|SKEE|noh|,_|-|SHEE|-}}) is a preserved, sweetened [[cherry]], typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the [[Royal Ann cherry|Royal Ann]],<ref>{{cite book | last1=Murray | first1=M.T. | last2=Pizzorno | first2=J. | last3=Pizzorno | first3=L. | title=The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods | publisher=Atria Books | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4391-0344-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKtAMVUT57EC&pg=PA264 | access-date=25 August 2018 | page=264}}</ref> [[Rainier cherry|Rainier]], or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a [[brine]] solution usually containing [[sulfur dioxide]] and [[calcium chloride]] to bleach the fruit, then soaked in a [[Suspension (chemistry)|suspension]] of [[food coloring]] (common red food dye is [[Allura Red AC]]), [[sugar syrup]], and other components.<ref name=who>{{cite news |title=Who Made That Maraschino Cherry? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/magazine/who-made-that-maraschino-cherry.html |quote= In 1925, Wiegand discovered that adding calcium salts to the preserving brine firmed up the fruit. |newspaper=[[New York Times Magazine]] |date=19 September 2014 |access-date=2015-02-20 }}</ref>

== Uses ==
[[File:The_Official_Queen_Mary_Cocktail.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Queen Mary (cocktail)|Queen Mary]] cocktail: [[beer]], [[grenadine]] and maraschino cherries]]

Maraschino cherries are used in many alcoholic and non-alcoholic [[Drink|drinks]] and [[cocktail]]s, including the [[Old fashioned (cocktail)|Old Fashioned]], [[tequila sunrise]], the [[Queen Mary (beer cocktail)|Queen Mary]] and the [[Shirley Temple (drink)|Shirley Temple]], giving them the nickname '''cocktail cherries'''. (This term is also used to refer to other varieties, including [[Amarena cherry|Amarena]], [[Balaton cherry|Balaton]], and [[Bing cherry|Bing]], when used for the same purpose, typically soaked in alcohol or sugar.<ref>[https://www.thespruceeats.com/best-cocktail-cherries-5085158 The 7 Best Cocktail Cherries of 2022]</ref>)  Sometimes the cherries, along with some of the maraschino syrup, are put into a glass of [[cola]] to make an old-fashioned or homemade [[cherry cola]] with a few brand name examples such as [[Coca-Cola]]'s "[[Coca-Cola Cherry]]", [[Caruso's|Caruso's Maraschino Cola]] and Goose Island's Cherry Cola Stout.

As a [[Garnish (food)|garnish]], they can be used to decorate [[frozen yogurt]], baked [[ham]], [[cake]]s, [[pastry]], [[parfait]]s, [[milkshake]]s and [[ice cream soda]]s. They are an integral part of an American [[ice cream sundae]],<ref>{{cite book | title=Ice Cream Trade Journal | publisher=Cutler-Williams Company | issue=v. 5 | year=1909 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0TJPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA7-PA30 | access-date=26 August 2018 | page=30}}</ref> giving rise to the term "cherry on top" in more general usage. They are frequently included in canned [[fruit cocktail]].<ref>[[USDA]]'s [http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRD3105806 Grading Manual for Canned Fruit Cocktail] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308060032/http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRD3105806 |date=8 March 2010 }}</ref>

==Europe==
The name ''maraschino'' originates from the [[marasca cherry]] of [[Dalmatia|Dalmatian]] origin<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/MaraschinoCherry.htm|title=The fruit that made Oregon famous! (in Maraschino Cherry History)|last=Verzemnieks|first=Inara|date=12 February 2006|work=The Oregonian|via=What's Cooking America website|access-date=2019-02-07}}</ref> and the [[maraschino|maraschino liqueur]] made from it, in which marasca cherries were crushed and preserved after being pickled.<ref name="Blech 2009">{{cite book | last=Blech | first=Z.Y. | title=Kosher Food Production | publisher=Wiley | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-8138-0480-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smFVSUWXTbkC&pg=PA266| page=266}}</ref> Whole cherries preserved in this liqueur were known as "maraschino cherries".<ref name=blech>{{cite book|last=Blech|first=Zushe Yosef|title=Kosher Food Production|url=https://archive.org/details/kosherfoodproduc00blec|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=978-0-8138-2093-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kosherfoodproduc00blec/page/n276 266]}}</ref> This had been a local means of preserving the fruit in [[Dalmatia]].<ref name="Blech 2009"/>

In the 19th century, these became popular in the rest of Europe, but the supply in Dalmatia was quite limited, so they became known as a delicacy for royalty and the wealthy. Because of the relative scarcity of the marasca, other cherries came to be preserved in various ways and sold as "maraschino".

==United States==
The cherries were first introduced in the United States in the late 19th century, where they were served in fine bars and [[restaurant]]s. Because they were scarce and expensive, by the turn of the century American producers were experimenting with other processes for preserving cherries, with flavors such as [[almond extract]] and substitute fruit like [[Royal Ann cherry|Queen Anne cherries]]. Among these, alcohol was already becoming less common.

In response, the [[USDA]] in 1912 defined "maraschino cherries" as "marasca cherries preserved in maraschino" under the authority of the [[Food and Drugs Act of 1906]]. The artificially-colored and sweetened Royal Anne variety were required to be called "Imitation Maraschino Cherries" instead.<ref name="FDA CPG">{{cite web|author=U.S. FDA | date=1980-01-10 |url=https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074535.htm |title=Sec. 550.550 Maraschino Cherries |work= CPG 7110.11 |access-date=2006-05-16 }}</ref> Food Inspection Decision 141 defined marasca cherries and maraschino themselves.<ref>{{cite journal |author=USDA |title=Food Inspection Decision 141. The Labeling of Maraschino and Maraschino Cherries |journal=California State Board of Health Monthly Bulletin |volume=8 |issue=1 |date=July 1812 |pages=11–12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=krTHhGoGJuEC&pg=RA1-PA11 |publisher=State Board of Health}}</ref> It was signed on 17 Feb. 1912.<ref name="Wiley">{{cite book |title=The History of a Crime Against the Food Law |author-link=Harvey W. Wiley |author=Wiley, Harvey W. |year=1976 |publisher=Ayer |chapter=Chapter III: Rules and Regulations |chapter-url=http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303critic/030305wylie/030305ch3.html |url=http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303critic/030305wylie/030305toc.html |access-date=2007-07-04 |archive-date=6 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706153132/http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303critic/030305wylie/030305toc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During [[Prohibition in the United States]] as of 1920, the decreasingly popular alcoholic variety was illegal as well. [[Ernest H. Wiegand]], a professor of [[horticulture]] at [[Oregon State University]] (OSU), developed the modern method of manufacturing maraschino cherries using a brine solution rather than alcohol.<ref name=who/><ref>{{Oregon Encyclopedia|maraschino_cherries|author=Verzemnieks, Inara}}</ref> Accordingly, most modern maraschino cherries have only a historical connection with maraschino liqueur.

According to Bob Cain, Cliff Samuels, and Hoya Yang, who worked with Wiegand at OSU, Prohibition had nothing to do with Wiegand's research: his intention was to develop a better brining process for cherries that would not soften them. When Wiegand began his research, there were several ways to preserve maraschino cherries without alcohol, long before Prohibition went into effect. Wiegand took a process that people had their own recipes for—"and who knows what they were putting in there" (frequently not alcohol)—and turned it into a science, something replicable.<ref>{{cite news|title=The fruit that made Oregon famous |first=Inara |last=Verzemnieks |date=2006-02-12 |newspaper=[[The Oregonian]] |url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregoniantest/2007/04/the_fruit_that_made_oregon_fam.html |access-date=2007-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930040753/http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregoniantest/2007/04/the_fruit_that_made_oregon_fam.html |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

When Wiegand began his research, [[sodium metabisulfite]] was being used to preserve maraschino cherries. Some accounts indicate that this preservation method was being used long before Prohibition. Some manufacturers used maraschino or imitation liqueurs to flavor the cherries, but newspaper stories from the early part of the century suggest that many manufacturers stopped using alcohol and artificial dyes before Prohibition.

After [[Repeal of Prohibition|Prohibition was repealed]], lobbying by the non-alcoholic preserved cherry industry encouraged the [[Food and Drug Administration]] to revise federal policy toward canned cherries. It held a hearing in April 1939 to establish a new [[standard of identity]]. Since 1940, "maraschino cherries" have been defined as "cherries which have been dyed red, infused with sugar, and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with [[Almond#Sweet and bitter almonds|oil of bitter almonds]] or a similar flavor."<ref name="FDA CPG" />

FD&C Red Number 1 and 4, and FD&C Yellow Number 1 through 4 were removed from the approved list in 1960. The ban on [[FD&C Red No. 4|Red Number 4]] was lifted in 1965 to allow the coloring of maraschino cherries, which by then were considered mainly decorative and not a foodstuff.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pavia|first=Donald L.|year=2005|title=Introduction to Organic Laboratory Techniques: A Small Scale Approach|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2020}}  In 1975, [[William F. Randolph]] of the [[FDA]] ruled that if an "artificial bitter almond flavor or any synthetic flavor is used, the product must be labeled artificial or artificially flavored."<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Sets Up Limits for Processors of Maraschino Cherries |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F04E4D8123CE034BC4A53DFB266838E669EDE |quote=There are limits beyond which the processors of maraschino cherries may not go, the United States Food and Drug Administration has decided. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2 April 1975 |access-date=2015-02-20 }}</ref> The following year, the ban on Red No. 4 was reinstated.

{{As of|2010}}, modern American maraschino cherries typically use [[FD&C Red 40]] as a colorant.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Mystery of the Red Bees of Red Hook |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/nyregion/30bigcity.html |quote=... Red Dye No. 40, the same dye used in the maraschino cherry juice. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=29 November 2010 |access-date=2015-02-20 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Amarena cherry|Amarena cherries]]
* [[Glacé fruit]]
* [[List of cherry dishes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite magazine |last=McRobert |first=T. B. |date=March 1914 |title=The Maraschino Cherry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwRQAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA43 |magazine=The International Confectioner |volume=23 |access-date=25 August 2018 |pages=43–44}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Maraschino cherries}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maraschino Cherry}}
[[Category:Agriculture in Oregon]]
[[Category:Cherry dishes]]
[[Category:Cocktail garnishes]]
[[Category:Food preservation]]
[[Category:Oregon State University]]
[[Category:Toppings]]