What to do with cherries

Yesterday evening, as my car clanked with the sound of canning jars hitting canning jars, I found my fingers to be a slightly rosey-blueish color – the skin saturated in cherry juice. My mind was saturated too, in cherry ideas.

I was totting home vanilla cherry rhubarb jam, bruléed cherry jam, smoked cherries, roasted thyme cherries, brandied cherries and a jar of rhubarb butterscotch. (Yes, I slept well last night.) While making them – together with three other cherry-smitten ladies – we discussed endless possibilities for these cute fruits, and reminisced places we’ve enjoyed them in the past. There was such an inspiring list assembled that I had share. I’ve also included a few cherry-growing tips, favorite varieties, places to savor cherry treats, and where I go to pick my own.

Enjoy cherries while they are still in season with these inspirations:

Cherries on Pizza. Head to Paulie Gee’s in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint ‘hood for a cherry pie like no other. The Honey Jones – on Paulie’s perfect crust – has mozzarella, gorgonzola, cherries, prosciutto slivers and honey (with comb) from a beekeeper just a few blocks from the restaurant.

Bacon-wrapped Cherries. El Bulli, Ferran Adria’s revolutionary Spanish restaurant (and foundation), dips them in rendered Iberian jamon fat, but if you aren’t tripping to Spain in the near future you can always make a more user-friendly version at home. I know bacon’s everyone’s best friend, but I prefer the turkey version (this is my favorite local type). It marries just as well with the cherries. Note: don’t use the Rainier variety for this one – the flavor is too easily meat-masked.

Pickled Cherries. My fabulous cousin’s recipe is da bomb.

More Savory Cherry Ideas:

♥ Roast them at 400F for 35mins with a bouquet of seasonings like thyme and hungarian sweet paprika (like we did)

♥ Smoke them on the barbecue for 4-5 hours with a small amount of charcoal and wet woodchips (my friend Christina, who came up with this marvelous idea, used a Smokantor)

♥ Pan fry some lightly breaded chicken in a cast iron skillet, add chopped cherries and a little balsamic and finish them in the oven

♥ Pit them and add to salad made with greens like contrasting speckled lettuce

♥ Stuff beef tenderloin with them

♥ Add them to some brown butter and fava beans and serve over bowtie pasta with good parmesan

♥ Make cherry bruschetta

Classic Chocolate-dipped Cherries. Chukar Cherries, in Seattle’s Pike’s Place Market, changed my mind about chocolate-covered dried fruits. These cherries are so intense. I don’t recommend taking a whole container of them into a movie – they’ll be gone before the opening credits. I don’t love the touristy-look of the place, but hey, it’s Pike’s Place. The cherries speak for themselves.

Cherry Scones. One of the best airport eating moments was inside PDX, Portland’s tidy airport, where there’s a local food court called Oregon Market. One of the kiosks there is Elephant’s Delicatessen. I hadn’t heard of Elephant’s before, nor eaten there since, but that cherry scone still lives on in my memory. (It was improperly sold as a sour cherry scone, but when it’s this good who cares?) Here’s a recipe that was recommended to me, but I have yet to try.

Cherry Darjeeling Ice Cream. Ici is more commonly known around Berkeley as the place that puts crack in their ice cream. It may seem crass to say, but it is so widely described as such that I couldn’t resist. When you see 40 people waiting for cold dessert on a grey day in a relatively small neighborhood…you have to wonder. Everything at Ici is made in small batches and the flavors are as exciting as I’d imagine a trip to David Lewovitz‘s kitchen would be. I can safely say this is in my top two favorite flavors there, together with the unparalleled passion fruit ice cream. For this one I have to whip out an O.M.G.

Sweet Roasted Cherries. Quickly roast them with a sprinkle of turbanado sugar (10 mins at 450F) and eat plain or over ice cream.

Favorite Types of Cherries

Bing’s are famous for good reason – I love their rich, saturated flavor. Lambert’s are even darker in color. Morello and Montmorency varieties are the best for pies and naughty things like brandied cherries, and they are also easier to grow since they’re self-pollinators. Sour cherries haven’t been as tinkered with by commercial growers, I’d sooner grow them than sweet cherries. I like the complex flavor and wildness that comes from sour cherries. The downside is that they are hard to find fresh if you aren’t growing them. Royal Ann’s are my favorite yellow-fleshed cherry, but can also be hard to find.

Growing Cherries

Cherries grow on trees, rather finicky trees. I’d try a dwarf variety since sweet cherries need compatible neighbors for pollination and thus fruit production. You must plant a different type of cherry tree, so if, for example, you want Bing cherries, you will likely have to plant a Rainier or some other type nearby. Drawfs will enable more trees to fit in a smaller space.

This might be a big “duh,” but be sure you are getting a fruiting cherry! There is a far bigger retail market for flowering cherry trees that for fruiting ones, so double check.

If you don’t mind a bite, or are planning on cooking with your crop, choose a wilder sour cherry variety – as I said before, many of those can grow solo.

Keep in mind that it is far easier to buy a fruiting cherry tree from someone who cultivated it carefully and got the root stock developed.

Bay Laurel is a well-known nursery in Atascadero, CA, where there are both grafted and genetically-developed cherry trees, and the sales people can tell you which is which. This nursery is a member of California Rare Fruit Growers, so they have many types, plus all the know-how to match your growing conditions to the best tree.

Planting a cherry pit wouldn’t get you very far, unless you’re a philosopher-type at heart and would relish the decade wait before you can even dream of a crop. That’s not me.

U-Pick Cherries

In the Bay Area, the place to go for cherries is Brentwood, in Contra Costa County. Although there are many others, I’ve had good experiences at Chavez U-Pick, Bacchini’s Fruit Trees, DC’s Extraordinary Cherries, and Freitas Ranch, where they grow a rare champagne cherry variety.

In Oregon I’ve picked in the Hood River area not far from Portland, but I don’t remember the name of the farm (here’s a list of u-picks in the three counties in and around Portland). The season starts later as you go north, so expect cherries to be in season by mid-July in Oregon, and a week or two later in Washington (excluding Eastern Washington).

Here’s a toast to Cherries!

Good Idea

Put up a basic seasonality chart on your fridge (print a pretty one here, check online here, or be digitally fab and check out this app). Then look for farms that grow what’s in season. Take a family outting to the farm and buy up. The price drops as you ad pounds at most farms or u-picks, and farmers markets sell in bulk too. My friend got the organic cherries we just used from her local farmer’s market for $20/18lbs. Eat some fresh, then put the rest up. Then you can dive into the height of cherry season any time of year. Chances are you’ll have fun, stain at least one shirt, and hone your talent for cherry pit-spitting in the process.