It's made from the Cochineal insect. It's gross. But this insect is also the source of color for lots of other things, like makeup.
Sure. Why not?
You can use fresh cherries, dried cherries, or other types of preserved cherries as substitutes for maraschino cherries in a recipe.
You can use fresh cherries, dried cherries, or cherry liqueur as substitutes for maraschino cherries in your cocktail recipe.
No.
About 48 maraschino cherries. A maraschino cherry weighs in at about 5 grams. A 10 oz jar of maraschino cherries contains 50-55 cherries, and a 5 oz jar contains about 25 cherries.
As far as I can tell you can only buy maraschino cherries online, they are imported from the United States.
Ice cream, pastries, drinks, maraschino cherries
A small jar of maraschino cherries typically contains 8 to 10 ounces of cherries.
Food.
When maraschino cherries grow on the cherry tree, they have pits. As they are processed into the product that you find in the jar, the pits are removed.
A suitable substitute for maraschino cherries in cocktails and desserts is fresh or frozen cherries, dried cherries, or other types of preserved cherries like Amarena cherries. These alternatives can provide a similar sweet and fruity flavor to your dishes.
Maraschino cherries were originally made with marascacherries. These grow around the area of the Adriatic sea. Beginning in the 1880's, the Luxardo company (makers of the famous Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur) began exporting jarred cherries to the U.S. and these were the same cherries which were used in its liqueur, along with the pits. Now, other generic brands of "maraschino cherries' are widely available and these are what most people are familiar with but they bear little resemblance to Luxardo cherries. You can still get Luxardo cherries, however, in specialty gourmet stores or online.