Family Recipes
from the old
country
Vishnik
"...and at dads 65th birthday Uncle Ben ate one!" - Wendy (Wallach) Ottosen
Sidney -
"I don’t know if I ever told you
about Pa’s Cherries? Well at the time he made them…Lets see
he died in 57 .. I would say he made them about 5 years.. no.. 8
or 9 years before he died. He went out and bought
the cherries.
The jar was about this big. (gesture with hands 1 ft tall jar)
and they were called Vishnik. Well the Vishnik was made with
cherries…you take the sour cherries, not the sweet cherries , but
the sour cherries the red cherries that were sour. He used the cherries
,and sugar and water and he filled a jar up, and he put it
up. And when you have something fermenting it bubbles
up, you
know it bubbles up and keeps bubbling up…and when it stops
bubbling up then you know it’s ready to
drink. And that’s what
happens. We used to drink a little bit of it all the time and my
dad used to drink a lot of it and it was very potent … it was
cherry liquor…. very strong. My dad died and no one wanted the
jar of cherries with the Vishnik and I said I’ll take it. And I
did take it . I kept it in the back of the refrigerator in the big wide
jar. On occasions on birthdays or something we would bring
it out and we’d smell it … and taste it.
Robyn - "Wendy do you still have the cherries?"
Wendy - "Yes !….I'm so afraid too, because what if something happens to the cherries at my house! I have had the cherries at my house for ... 20 years? For Dads 65th birthday party. I was pregnant with Brian at the time – I’ve had it for 17years! I've moved those cherries from house to house to house. Three house!."
Robyn - "When we brought it over to your house for dads party it got transferred to a small jar. It had always been in that big jar at his house."
Wendy - "Yes. At my house it has always been in that small jar. And at dads 65th birthday Uncle Ben ate one!"
Sidney - "And I ate one."
Karl - "And at Barbs Shiva , we brought them out and somebody did eat them. They are all alcohol now…. Didn’t someone put more brandy in them?"
Sidney - "Let me tell you what happens… In time it evaporated, and we didn’t want to lose the cherries so we added alcohol ..brandy . It would preserve them."
- From a taped interview with Sidney 09-08-2004.
The 55+ year old cherries remain in the refrigerator at Wendy’s house...
awaiting the next adventurous epicurean.
drink. And that’s what
happens. We used to drink a little bit of it all the time and my
dad used to drink a lot of it and it was very potent … it was
cherry liquor…. very strong. My dad died and no one wanted the
jar of cherries with the Vishnik and I said I’ll take it. And I
did take it . I kept it in the back of the refrigerator in the big wide
jar. On occasions on birthdays or something we would bring
it out and we’d smell it … and taste it. Robyn - "Wendy do you still have the cherries?"
Wendy - "Yes !….I'm so afraid too, because what if something happens to the cherries at my house! I have had the cherries at my house for ... 20 years? For Dads 65th birthday party. I was pregnant with Brian at the time – I’ve had it for 17years! I've moved those cherries from house to house to house. Three house!."
Robyn - "When we brought it over to your house for dads party it got transferred to a small jar. It had always been in that big jar at his house."
Wendy - "Yes. At my house it has always been in that small jar. And at dads 65th birthday Uncle Ben ate one!"
Sidney - "And I ate one."
Karl - "And at Barbs Shiva , we brought them out and somebody did eat them. They are all alcohol now…. Didn’t someone put more brandy in them?"
Sidney - "Let me tell you what happens… In time it evaporated, and we didn’t want to lose the cherries so we added alcohol ..brandy . It would preserve them."
- From a taped interview with Sidney 09-08-2004.
The 55+ year old cherries remain in the refrigerator at Wendy’s house...
awaiting the next adventurous epicurean.
