Bet you can't eat just one! Plunk a bowl of cherries down on the coffee table and they'll be gone by dinner time, guaranteed. Cherries are still a super-seasonal fruit that you can really only find in that small window between late-spring and high-summer. What are you making with cherries this year?
Sweet cherries come in two main varieties: dark Bing cherries and rosy-gold Rainier cherries. Bings have a lusty sweet cherry flavor, perfect for jams, pies, and swirling into ice cream. Rainiers are equally sweet, but with a more honey-like floral quality underscored by the creamy texture of the fruit itself. Try Rainiers in salads, with a scoop of tart yogurt, or in a dessert parfait.
Part of the reason the cherry season is so brief is because they are highly perishable. No cold-storage for these fruits! Store those cherries you won't be eating right away in the fridge and plan on eating them within a few days. Happily, cherries do freeze beautifully. If you find yourself with a bounty, pit them first and then freeze them for up to six months.
Take a look at these recipes for some cherry-licious inspiration:
• Quick Coconut Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries
• Almond Buttermilk Cake with Cherries
• Roasted Cherry Dutch Baby with Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Sauce
• Brown Rice Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Cherries
• Whole Wheat Couscous with Cherries and Arugula
• Boozy Cherries: 2 1/2 Ways
More on cherries:
• How to Choose and Store Cherries
• Smart Designs: The Best Cherry Pitter Ever
• No Cherry Pitter? Use a Pastry Tip (or Use a Chopstick!)
• Washington Cherries: From Orchard to Pie
• C.J. Olson Cherries: An Iconic Silicon Valley Fruit Stand
Have a good cherry recipe to share?
Related: In Season Right Now: Sour Cherries
(Image: Shebeko/Shutterstock)
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I went a little overboard at farmers market last week and bout 2 pounds of cherries and about a dozen apricots. I realized I was not going to eat them all so made a simple crumble with oats and brown sugar. It was excellent! By the way, I did not have a cherry pitter so I picked up an OXO Good Grips one and it worked very well!
NOTE: I think the almond buttermilk cake link actually links to the roasted cherry dutch baby post.
As a side note, we've tried the roasted cherry dutch baby, and absolutely loved it! Highly recommend it to fellow cherry lovers, it comes out tasting a bit like a cherry bread pudding.
My go-to summer dessert is David Lebovitz's Easy Jam Tart recipe, but filled instead with sugared cherries (and either a touch of salt or a little brandy, depending on the crowd). It was the first such dessert I made from a recipe that wasn't my mother's, and sparked a kitchen rebellion in my heart!
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/07/jam-tart/