Marcelle Richards
Clare and Matt Stoner Fehsenfeld of Quince & Apple: Wisconsin fruits provide an avenue for big, bold flavors.
Call me the patron saint of Quince & Apple's Door County Tart Cherry Grenadine because it's a blessing I can't help but pass on. The "soft release" of the Madison jam company's grenadine happened mostly via bartenders, with a public release in the Chicago market on May 13 and, two days later, in Madison at retail locations including Fromagination, Steve's Wine and Liquor, and Natt Spil.
I happened upon a bottle during the soft release. I sampled it with a friend, to whom I later gifted another then-black-market bottle, which perched on our table at a local bar while we talked.
The bar manager swooped in. She picked up the bottle.
"What's this?"
"You need to know about this," I said.
The grenadine is crimson cherry juice reduced to a simple syrup with just beet sugar from a Minnesotan beet farmer co-op. It's not overly sugary.
The bar manager and I carried on about the woeful state of most commercial grenadines, which taste about as appetizing as red dye #40 sounds. Her roommate is a mortician, and he can tell who drinks, say, chemical-laden diet soft drinks.
"That stuff doesn't leave the body," she said. "It has to be drained out."
I shudder.
"This stuff is pure," I said, pointing to the two ingredients on the bottle: cherries, sugar.
The Door County Tart Cherry is just the beginning of a line of cocktail syrups (and perhaps even coffee syrups) for Quince & Apple, now expanding beyond its repertoire of small-batch artisan preserves.
"One of the big goals of our company is to build up Wisconsin's fruit industry," says co-owner Clare Stoner Fehsenfeld. The syrups would allow it to further branch out in that mission, especially since they could allow for using Wisconsin-grown fruits, like sea buckthorn, that might be too intense to use in preserve form.
The idea for creating cocktail syrups has been about a year in the making, developing alongside the classic cocktail movement. There's crossover from the preserves in terms of technique. "Basically, syrups are preserves without pectin. It seemed like a natural extension to us," Clare says. She tackles the business management end while her husband, Matt Stoner Fehsenfeld, is "the artisan" in the kitchen, refining and perfecting ideas.
The syrups allow for more potency in flavor than a preserve.
"It opens up a new avenue for experimentation," Matt says. He's toying with a strawberry syrup with black pepper, juniper and lemon zest. Savory ideas abound too: carrot-ginger and oak, as well as coffee syrups including orgeat (a sweet syrup of almonds, sugar and rose water) and dark toasted hazelnut.
The launch of the Door County tart cherry grenadine was a direct response to available grenadines tasting overly sweet. In this one, ripe cherries are taken just to the point of sweetness to round out the flavors.
Go virgin with a kiddie cocktail or try this adult cocktail, which drew a "Hallelujah" from my lips.
Gin Daisy
- 2 ounces gin
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 ounce tart cherry grenadine
- Seltzer
- Mint
Add all ingredients to a glass and fill half full with crushed ice. Stir until glass is frosted and fill with seltzer. Garnish with mint.
A launch party for the cocktail syrups will be held at Fromagination, 12 S. Carroll St., May 24 from 7-9 pm.
