Grandma K's Bounce

Red Currant Bounce 9/6/2026

I am deeply sentimental.  I treasure family heirlooms and recipes, expressions and stories.  Not just from my family, either.  I swoon for the threads that tie other families through the generations.  Even families I don't know personally.  Like the "if this isn't nice I don't know what is," thing I adopted from Kurt Vonnegut and his uncle.  Or the quilt on our couch that Joyce got a kiddo from her mom.  I never met Joyce or her mom and yet I adore every single stitch of that quilt.  I can feel the love in these traditions.  They make my heart glad.

Grandma and Grandpa K dancing.  Photo credit and date unknown.

One of my sporadic sentimental pasttimes is to root around in my mother-in-law's box of recipe cards.  Several years ago, I copied down a recipe for "Chokecherry Bounce" that I discovered in Sharon's recipe trove.  It was a recipe that came from her mom (Matt's grandma).  I thought it might be fun to try, but alas, Matt and I don't really go out pickin' chokecherries.  So years went by and I never put the recipe to use.  

Matt getting a cool, refreshing drink amidst his deck demoltion project.  5/13/2026

BUT!  Last year-- during the glut of currant season-- it occurred to me that we do have waaaaaaaaaay more tart red currents from the garden than we can ever use.  Matt and I don't need that much currant jelly or syrup or juice.  And red currants are pretty dang tart so I figured they'd be a solid stand-in for chokecherries.  And they were!!

After the deck was removed, we had some very crumbly, uneven concrete steps.  The top step had been partitally chipped off to accomodate the deck being built over the top.  The currant (right) and rose (left) bushes are in the foreground.  6/2/2026

I get such a kick out of these "old" recipes, too.  There is a lot of assumed knowledge and often the details are a little...vague.  I had to call Matt's mom for a consult on this one, in fact.  "Do you think she meant to let it sit on the berries until Christmas?  Or do you think she strained it first and then put it on the shelf until Christmas?" 

The start of a new batch of Currant Bounce.  We polished off the last of the 2025 batch with Ryan and Bek last night.  9/7/2026

[Sharon said to leave the berries in there.]

The new steps, shortly after they were poured.  We were able to support a small, family concrete business, too.  Folks we know from the live music scene.  So that was cool.  7/9/2026

Here's Grandma K's recipe for Chokecherry Bounce, as written.

Grandma K striking a silly pose in her joke glasses.  I didn't have the chance to know her well, but she has quite a reputation as an incredibly funny and playful person, quick on a prank or to lean into a joke.  I love this photo.  Credit and date again unknown. 

Chokecherry Bounce

3 lbs chokecherries
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 Fifths vodka

Put berries in jar, cover with sugar and vodka.  Every day or so, turn upside down to dissolve sugar.  Put on a shelf until Christmas.  Serve over ice or mixed with 7-Up.

The rotton corner post of our old deck.  As it got more and more rotten, I started tucking peanuts in there for the birds and squirels to find.  I thought it was hilarious. I acutally proposed we keep just this one post to use as a bird feeder, but we decided against it in the end.  5/10/2026

Here is my recipe for Red Currant Bounce.  They're essentially the same thing, but... I elaborated on the instructions just a tad.

Red Currant Bounce 9/6/2026

Red Currant Bounce

3 lbs red currants
3 1/2 cups sugar
1,500 ml vodka

Put currants in a half-gallon jar, cover with sugar and vodka.  Every day or so for about a week, turn upside down to dissolve sugar.  Once the sugar is fully dissolved, put the jar on a shelf until Christmas. Strain out currants.  Put the bounce in a clean bottle.  Serve over ice or mixed with carbonated water or 7-Up.

Matt installed new metal fencing around the top part of the yard.  We MUST have a fence these days or the domestic, feral rabbits destroy EVERYTHING.  We figured if that was gonna be the case, we should upgrade the fencing a little bit.  Not only is it more aesthetic than the chicken wire, it has a gate which makes our front yard access easier.  Especially with the lawnmower or a wheelbarrow, say.  Two of our three currant bushes are along this fence line.  8/2/2026

This year has been a rough one for our currants.  First off, the bushes are under attack by Gooseberry Sawfly larvae.  We noticed some leaf damage on one of the bushes last year, but never laid eyes on the culprit.  This year the larvae were a lot more obvious about their ravenous desire to strip the leaves bare.  Matt manually removed them and I gave the bushes a double check.  We are hopeful that we caught them before the sawfly population can take off and spread. Time will tell. 

Matt on the deck, prior to demolition.  The railing was totally rotten, dangeroustly so.  In addition, the support legs were earth-to-wood and also rotting rapidly.  We decided to   5/10/2026

We also ripped out the rotting front deck and had concrete steps poured.  The currant bushes took a beating with the construction process.  Following the front step upgrade, Matt installed a new fence around the front yard.  This involved the currant bushes getting a fair bit of manhandling, despite Matt's efforts to be gentle.

Matt bringing in some groceries using the new steps.  7/11/2026

Fun fact:  The birds planted a third currant bush for us, apparenly.  It popped up about 20 paces from the original pair, near the ever-popular bird bath.  We regularly see the Robins munching on the currants.  I am sure it was them that "planted" this new bush.

New fence, new steps.  Next step:  Install a railing on the step!  8/2/2026