Cherry Heaven
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The first weekend in July is when the dark cherries are completely ripe and the bright red cherries just getting there. We have masses, and masses, and masses. So… I invited some people to come over for a cherry picking day on Saturday. The cherry glut is a new problem for us because a late frost destroyed most of the fruit before it set in last year.
I haven’t yet worked out which are the cooking cherries and which are for eating. There is general disagreement with the neighbour saying one thing, and the roofers saying another. I find it difficult to tell because they are all beautiful. In the UK, cherries never seemed to get that ripe - so were normally somewhat sour. So… I have picked as many as I can, and given them away to neighbours, students and friends. When we have water I will be able to make jam. When we have water…
It’s a delicious problem… what to do with so many cherries. You can take a cherry diet day, for example. Simply, a day on which you eat nothing but cherries. It’s said to be very cleansing. Cherries are certainly a wonder food - they release their energy much slower than many other fruit - they have a low GI index. Friends have also suggested making cherry soup (a sort of juice with other things in it which can be stored for a long time) and my neighbour in Tabor made a beautiful cake using some of them. In the mean time, I have pickled a good few kilos in vodka. Some with their stalks, some without.
To take the stones out of the cherries, you can use a hair pin. You stick the u shape into the stalk hole from the cherry and hook out the stone. It’s very effective.
I have cut back one of the trees somewhat - the tree is huge with many branches that will always be out of reach - next year the cherries should be less and larger.