Cherry sparkling water, three ways
The unsweetened infusion, the syrup, and the ratio that makes the finished drink.
In season: Sweet cherries through June and July. Sour cherries get a two-week window in early July, and frozen sour cherries are worth buying on purpose.
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Infused, unsweetened
Use
1.5 cups cherries, pitted and halved, per 1 litre of water
Method
Pit and halve them so the cut flesh sits open in the water. Whole cherries with the skin intact give almost nothing. Cover with cold still water, refrigerate.
Time
6 hours for a pale cherry note, 12 hours for the most cold water will give you
Sparkling
Still water for the infusion. Cherry infusion is faint even done right, so finish it half and half with sparkling instead of 1 to 4.
Keeps
2 days refrigerated, fruit out at 12 hours
The syrup
Ratio
2 cups pitted cherries : 1 cup sugar : 1 cup water
Method
Simmer 15 minutes, since cherries are firmer than berries and need the extra time. Steep 30 minutes off the heat, strain without pressing.
Keeps
2 weeks refrigerated, 6 months frozen
Note
A quarter teaspoon of almond extract stirred into the cooled syrup gives the note people are actually chasing when they say cherry soda.
The finished soda
1 part syrup to 4 parts sparkling water, over ice
Sweet cherry needs acid put back. 1 tablespoon lemon juice stirred into each cup of finished syrup once it is cold.
The shrub version
Sour cherry shrub is the good one. 2 cups pitted sour cherries and 1 cup sugar, covered in the fridge 2 days, strain, stir in 3/4 cup red wine vinegar, rest 1 week.
What doesn't work: Building it from sweet supermarket cherries and expecting cherry soda. Bing cherries are sugar with very little acid behind them, and cooked down they go flat and vaguely floral. Sour cherries, fresh or frozen, give the flavour people recognise, and with sweet ones you have to add the acid yourself.
Goes with: Lime