Re: [Cz-L] Vishniak

Here is some writing related to vishniak, from my late mother's
memoirs, Before Memories Fade, by Pearl Spiegel Fichman:
--------------------------------------------------------
Any time Mother went to market for food, she would also bring home
flowers in season. Peasant women offered vegetables, fruit or poultry
and they also brought flowers from their gardens. We always had some on
the big dining room table; they gave the room a special fragrance.

The fruits paraded through the season in a natural sequence. We first
enjoyed cherries - white, pink, red and the last in the season, sour
cherries. Mother made preserves from pink and white cherries; Father
sometimes made "Vishniak" from sour cherries. It became a kind of
"Cherry Heering", more substantial than wine but less concentrated that
liqueur. In the summer, fruits and berries were a string of delights.
Tiny wild strawberries, picked in the woods - a treat with sweet cream.
Gooseberries and raspberries were made into syrup of brilliant scarlet
color and stored in bottles, for use all through the year. A summer
treat used to be: cold soda water with syrup.

In early summer, we loved currants. They grew very low, the height of
lilies-of-the-valley. On a thin stem would be six or up to ten little,
red, bead-like fruits, very sour. As they puckered your mouth, they
were like an addiction. Any time a bowlful was on the table, it was
finished by the people around it. None were ever left. Yet, the big
guns of the season were just around the corner: apricots, pears,
apples, grapes, plums and quinces.

Since, at that time, you could buy in the grocery just staples, like
flour, salt, sugar, rice, butter, herring, everything else had to be
prepared at home and at the right time. Thus summer and the beginning
of autumn were the seasons to make jams, marmalade, preserves, syrup
and pickles.

The end of August, when fruits were ripe, in abundance and inexpensive,
the real busy time started. All this before the fall holidays: Rosh
Hashanah (New Year’s) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Povidla, plum
marmalade, was prepared in a big caldron. First, for a day or two, big
quantities would be bought and the peasants from the market would bring
them home. Then, everybody in the family pitched in washing them,
removing the pits and, next day, in the early hours of the morning
Mother would start boiling it, stirring in the sugar. As the liquid
would evaporate, the povidla became thicker and it became hard to stir,
with that enormous, wooden spatula. By evening it would be done. It
cooled off through the night and next day it was time to fill the jars
or big ceramic crocks. Mother also made quince marmalade and it was
about the same procedure. (Quinces look like greenish-yellowish apples;
are hard and sour and can’t be eaten raw.) All these jams were intended
for sandwiches or snacks for the entire year, until next season.

Preserves were prepared in smaller quantities and were made of
apricots, strawberries, cherries, different berries and roses. Those
were more delicate fruits, made to taste sweeter than jam and were
mostly used for baking or as a treat, with cold water, in the summer.
The preparation of rose confiture resulted in a double delight. Mother
would buy one or two big bags full of hedge roses, freshly cut from the
garden. She would shake the petals into a big basin and pick out just
the petals, for there were leaves and impurities mixed in. Then boil
them gently in water with sugar, for a short time; let it cool off. The
entire house smelled of rose perfume. In the rose season, different
neighbors prepared these preserves on different days-the entire house
was perfumed.

All these preparations for the winter meant an inordinate amount of
work for Mother. Although we helped some, yet that was negligible. Work
began early in the morning, the fire in the kitchen stove kept going
and so did the busy sorting, cooking, boiling, washing of dishes. To
keep in mind, that was before air-conditioning. Mother used to say:
"Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund." (Morning hours are golden ones).

Cucumbers were pickled in the fall and kept in a barrel or big jars. Of
course, spices were boiled, garlic and greens added. That, too,
emanated a special aroma in the autumn. Every once in a while, not
yearly, Father would make wine, in a large glass jar. That was a hit or
miss proposition. Sometimes the wine would be delightful, at other
times a pure waste. It was done for sheer fun, with a 50/50
expectation.

The sour cherry wine, a small quantity - perhaps four or five bottles -
would be enjoyed as a special pleasure. You had to deserve a glass; it
was a conversation piece, an artistic creation. My friends knew about
the "Vishniak" (Vishni, in Slav languages means sour cherries. Vishniak
is an alcoholic drink made of sour cherries) and about the special
people or occasions for its consumption.

Once I told a friend that this year the drink is excellent. He started
a conversation with Father that led up to this remark: "Mr. Spiegel, I
heard that this year your vishniak is better than ever." My Father,
proud of his creation and reputation treated him and asked him to judge
for himself. A little praise went a long way. Of course, I knew where
it was and I treated my favorite friends with my Father’s favorite
beverage, anyway.

Where did one keep all these jars and, once in a while, a barrel with
pickles? We had a pantry, the size of a small room, with shelves from
top to bottom around three walls. In the apartment, into which we moved
in 1935, we had a servant’s room, beside the pantry. Since we had no
servant, the space was used for the sewing machine and for provisions.
It was a chamber of hidden delights up to 1940, then it turned into an
almost desolate chamber, just like our lives.
--------------------------------------------------------

Eytan Fichman, AIA
B.Arch., M.Arch., Ed.M.

-----Original Message-----
From: Arthur von Czernowitz <vonczernowitz_at_yahoo.com>
To: cornel fleming <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>; HARDY BREIER
<HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET>; Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu
<Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>; Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
Cc: Merle Kastner <merlek_at_videotron.ca>
Sent: Wed, Feb 3, 2010 4:54 pm
Subject: [Cz-L] Vishniak

Mimi,
To make Vishniak, you need sour cherries. Can you get them in the US?
The recipe: Usually equal amounts of sour cherries to equal amount of
sugar,
placed in a glass jar and covered with muslin.
After about 2 weeks, Vishniak.
You could fortify the Vishniak with a glass of vodka.

Cheers

Arthur
-snip-
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Received on 2010-02-03 18:22:28