Kirschwasser

Kirschwasser means 'cherry water' in German — Kirsche ('cherry') plus Wasser ('water'). The spirit is made by fermenting and distilling morello cherries, including the pits. Those pits contain amygdalin, which breaks down into benzaldehyde (the bitter almond flavor) and trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide. The amounts are harmless in the finished spirit, but the chemistry is real. Kirsch tastes like almonds because of poison.

The Black Forest region of southwestern Germany and the neighboring Alsace region of France have produced Kirsch since at least the 1500s. The earliest documented distillation comes from the town of Schopfheim in 1602, though the practice is certainly older. Swiss cantons — Basel, Zürich, Zug — developed their own Kirsch traditions. The spirit became a regional identity marker for the German-Swiss-French border zone.

Kirsch is the traditional spirit in fondue and Black Forest cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte). August Keller, a pastry chef in the Black Forest town of Triberg, is often credited with creating the Kirschtorte around 1915, though the exact origin is disputed. The European Union granted Black Forest cake a protected designation in 2003, requiring that any cake using the name must contain Kirschwasser. The spirit is legally inseparable from the dessert.

Outside German-speaking Europe, Kirsch is primarily known as a baking and cocktail ingredient. It appears in Jubilee cherries, certain Swiss cheese fondues, and the Singapore Sling. The word shortened from Kirschwasser to Kirsch in English, dropping the 'water' that distinguished it from cherry liqueur (which is sweet; Kirsch is bone-dry). A clear, dry, faintly lethal cherry brandy reduced to half its name.