It's Cherry Season 2007!

[Pam R]

Couple of questions:

- What are you all paying per pound for cherries, and where?

$1.99/lb Canadian.

[Fat Guy]

On my way home from the subway today I saw a street vendor selling very nice looking cherries 3 pounds for $5. That's about $1.66 a pound. Pretty good.

[Dave the Cook]

$1.99/pound here. Raniers are still in the $6-7 range, though, and not great.

[prasantrin]

I stopped by Ikari today (a sort of expensive supermarket), and they had Japanese-grown cherries at Y1280 for 14 cherries. That's about US$10 for 100g or $45/lb???

All the other prices I mentioned above were for American cherries (the red kind).

[CaliPoutine]

Couple of questions:

- What are you all paying per pound for cherries, and where?

$1.99/lb Canadian.

←

Same for me!!

[prasantrin]

I just got a huge box of JalPak Skookum Bing Cherries, complete with politically incorrect label...

Three of my co-workers and I are gifted with a 1.5 kg box every summer which we have to share, but since my name is on the box, I get the extras.

Oh, these babies come out to about $15/lb, but that includes shipping to Japan.

Edited July 5, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[docsconz]

It has been the best season in my memory for upstate NY cherries. Last night my wife made cherry pie. I have never had better pie - period. It was that good.

I'll be in Michigan soon for a college visit with my son. Any great sources for cherries around Ann Arbor?

[menon1971]

I am not sure about Ann Arbor, but the National Cherry Festival starts the 10th in Traverse City: http://www.cherryfestival.org/

Michigan produces the best tart cherries I have ever tasted.

[Dianabanana]

My cherries cost $0.00/per pound, as in FREE, all 30+ pounds of them, as they come from my backyard tree. Half the limbs overhang my deck, so I don't even have to leave my chair. If I'm feeling ambitious, I can them in syrup (pits *in*--crucial, as the pits are what create the delicious winey flavor), or brandy them, or pickle them. If, as usual, I am feeling slothful, I just eat what I can reach and then sit in the aforementioned deck chair watching the birds and squirrels eat the rest.

One of the nicest things I've done with them is the recipe for Russian Pickled Cherries in the Joy of Pickling. I forget what all is in it, but I think cardamom figured prominently.

Going home now to pick cherries!

[weinoo]

One of the farmer's displays of cherries at Friday's green market!.

I have a few pints in my fridge!!

Edited July 7, 2007 by weinoo (log)

[Dianabanana]

Wow, how beautiful!

[Dianabanana]

But, on closer inspection, how strange that they all appear to have been picked sans stems. I wonder why they would do that? It makes decay set in very quickly.

[Mottmott]

And the good news is that a cup of raw cherries is about 80 calories.

After I scarfed up about a quart of them over the course of a day, panic set in about how many colories I'd eaten. How delightful to find that they are not only delicious but a guilt free treat.

I've been getting them from the farmers markets. I've discovered that the orchard that grows my favorite white peaches and apples later in the season also produces the hands down best cherries, too. They've been running 5/6 per qt.

I used some of the sour cherries to make ice cream, deliberately choosing a recipe that seemed unusual - just heavy & light cream, cherries poached in syrup, then pureed, then folded into the beaten cream. UGH. It was worth trying something different if only confirm there's a reason that was an unusual recipe.

OT: heirloom tomatoes are showing up too.

[monavano]

Sour cherries have been fantastic here in N. Virginia/DC. Yesterday at my local farmers market, I got 4 quarts at $3 each (1 for $4, 2 for $6). So far I'm making things like cherry crisp, and pork with a port cherry reduction sauce.

[weinoo]

But, on closer inspection, how strange that they all appear to have been picked sans stems. I wonder why they would do that? It makes decay set in very quickly.

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It is kinda weird - the sour cherries I bought all had stems...this was the first I encountered without, but they seem to be holding up well - I mean, they don't last long anyway .

That looks good, monavano!

[weinoo]

First, I saw these NY State sour cherries - and bought a few baskets, stems attached.

And here's the sour cherry soup with Bing cherry sorbet and vanilla

bourbon ice cream.

[Tess]

Wow, that sour cherry soup looks divine!

I buy sour cherries sometimes without stems and they seem fine. I am hoping against hope that my favorite Michigan farmer is going to show up this week with bags of pitted and frozen ones. He did that last year and they held up remarkably well in the freezer.

We've eaten pounds of sour cherries around here-- lots of them just pitted, sprinked with sugar and served over ice cream (or Splenda and lowfat Greek yogurt for the dieters.) They also went into summer puddings; not the best texture for that dish but the taste was great. A lot of the ones I bought this year were rather small but flavorful and with a pretty good crunch for that fruit.

[ruthcooks]

In my cherry pickin' days, sour cherries were not considered ripe unless they came off the stems as you picked them.

Cherry Puree. Choose the ripest sour cherries. Gently steam pitted cherries, covered, until soft. You don't want to cook them. Puree, remove foam and discard. Measure puree and stir in about 1/4 cup sugar per cup of puree until dissolved. Freeze in one and two cup portions.

Thicken for pie fillings, make sour cherry sorbet, stir a cup into a cheesecake pie recipe, make dessert sauces. Wonderful stuff. You won't have to add much more sugar when you use it, about 1/4 cup for 2 cups of puree is usually enough.

[pansophia]

I have about three or four cups of little Nanking charries that a local farmer let us pick for free but no clue what to do with them. the pits are too small and the fruits too soft to use a pitter at this point. But they taste really good!

I was going to just pit and freeze but now I don't think I can. Should I do a syrup?

Any ideas?

[LindaK]

Your pictures and recipes are beautiful--no cherries at our local farmers markets here in Boston. I love sour cherries, nothing better for pies or canning. Someone, please, make a gateau basque with fresh cherries!