Vissinada Recipe (Greek Sour Cherry Cordial)

Vissinada is built entirely on vissino, sour or morello cherries preserved in a thick sugar syrup as a spoon sweet, one of the small preserved-fruit preparations traditionally offered to guests on a little dish alongside a glass of cold water and a coffee, as a genuine gesture of hospitality rather than simply a dessert.

Diluting that same syrup with cold water turns it into a completely different, refreshing summer drink, sharp and bright rather than sweet in the way the preserved fruit itself is, and it is one of the classic homemade cordials found in Greek households through the hottest months.

It needs almost nothing beyond the syrup itself and cold water, and the only real variable is how strong you like it, which is entirely down to personal taste and easy to adjust each time you make a glass.

Key preparation steps

1. Make or buy vissino, sour cherry spoon sweet, for its syrup.
2. Mix the syrup with cold water to your preferred strength.
3. Serve over ice.
4. Offer a small spoon of the cherries alongside, per tradition.

Where the syrup comes from

Vissino, sour cherries slowly cooked down in sugar into a thick preserve, is a specific and well-loved Greek spoon sweet, and it is the syrup left in the jar around the preserved cherries that becomes vissinada once diluted. Good quality jarred vissino spoon sweet, widely available in Greek grocers, is an entirely legitimate source for this syrup if you are not making the preserve yourself from scratch.

The syrup should taste distinctly sharp and fruity, carrying real sour cherry character rather than tasting like plain sugar syrup with red colouring, which is worth checking for if buying a jar rather than making your own.

Getting the dilution right

There is no fixed ratio that suits everyone, since vissino syrups vary in sweetness and cherry concentration between brands and homemade batches. Start with about three tablespoons of syrup to a full glass of cold water, taste, and adjust from there, adding more syrup for a sweeter, more intensely flavoured drink or more water for something lighter.

Serving

Serve over plenty of ice in a tall glass, and offer a small spoon of the preserved cherries themselves alongside if you have them, which is the traditional way vissino is presented to a guest, the syrup as a drink and the fruit as a little sweet to eat with a spoon.

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