Cherry Ripe

It's funny, isn't it, what memories come to you when you are reminded of something from years gone by. At the moment our cherry tree is loaded with fruit. We thought it wouldn't be ready for ages, but the presence of lots of birds and one yellow labrador-shark circling underneath told us they might be ripe enough to eat. The other day Wouter let Cassy out for his usual morning activity and later went to look for him but he seemed to have vanished, but then he saw a tail wagging - only the tail as the rest of him was buried deep in the cherry tree. Cassy has also learnt to climb the pile of builders mix we have underneath the tree, and then to place his paws on one of the branches so he can reach further up into the tree to help us pick.

cherry blossom

tree in blossom

My first memory of anything cherry is when my sister and I used to sing along with my mother when she played the piano. The song was "Cherry Ripe" and it goes something like this:

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe
Ripe I cried
Full and fair ones
Come and buy

this is from a poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and if you are interested there is a link below which plays the tune - the second link is to a (wiki) detailed explanation of Cherry Ripe and associations:
Cherry Ripe tune

Wiki article

two weeks ago

cherries on tree

Then the other day I found out it's my sister's favourite fruit - never knew that before.... I've only in recent years come to enjoy the fresh cherry and I've never been too fussed on the jam or other cherry preserves.

So yesterday evening we went out with a big bowl, and again this morning and this evening. So now I am faced with loads of cherries and wondering what to do. The crop is finite, so I guess they will survive a few days in the fridge and we can just snack on them.

ripe for the picking

if it falls where will it go?

In anticipation of being able to do lots of things with the cherries we've been searching for a cherry pitter to no avail. I had heard you can use a bent paper clip, which we tried but it didn't work out well as the paper clip was not strong enough. But then I thought about a crochet hook - luckily I bought a set of three recently as they were on special for 2 euro and one never knows when one may need such things.... and they work perfectly well as cherry pitters!

slurp, slurp, slurp

trail of evidence

I'll just wait until I have room again....

second pick

After picking several kilos of cherries the backlog meant I had to do more than just eat them fresh. So after giving away a few, some have been pitted and gone into the freezer for muffins, pies and desserts etc, some are drying as I write to be used as cherry raisins, some are soaking in sweet juice for making glace cherries (this is particularly useful as I have not seen them for sale here yet), and soon I will make a cherry leather, a bit like a fruit roll-up. We estimate the total crop is something like 25 kilos - yesterday we picked 8 kilos without trying.

pitting for cherry raisins

and then there are the broad beans

Next year we will be better organised and I can spend more time trying out new recipes and ways to keep the cherries for later, but meanwhile we continue to eat them fresh as they sure make a change from broad beans!!!