I did not cut down that cherry tree
But I did eat the cherries. Today on Gourmet.com:
So around the Fourth of July, my family rolled up to the generous reader’s front yard, armed with buckets. I was worried this would be some kind of scrawny, homegrown cherry tree with inferior fruit, and we’d have to politely pick cherries and then toss them in a Dumpster on the way home (the fresh-fruit version of “your home-brewed beer is delicious!”). Instead, I found a towering, mature tree, bearing bushels of the same bright-red Montmorency cherries I was paying $7.50 a pound for at the farmers market.
Thanks to Dana Cree and Lara Ferroni for making this story possible; I was just the cherry pitter and scribe.
Comment by Lauren
Ooooh, tell me more about the cherry pit ice cream. I just happen to have both access to a sour cherry tree and and ice cream maker!
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 9:10 am
Comment by mamster
Well, Lauren, you bust open a hundred cherry pits, chop the “nuts” and infuse them into cream, then sweeten and make ice cream. You could do the same thing with sweet cherry pits or peach or apricot pits and I’ll bet it would be about the same. Make sure you chop them finely and boil the cream, for two reasons: (1) the flavor is subtle, and (2) raw pits are poisonous.
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 9:34 am
Comment by ctate
FYI: one of my French orkers insists that clafoutis is made with intact cherries, not pitted, otherwise it doesn’t taste right. That said, arguing with Dana Cree on this doesn’t strike me as a recipe for success.
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 11:46 am
Comment by Maggi
Oh my word… I so wait patiently for sour cherry season each year. Yes. Brief, fleeting and expensive is a good description.
But, my husband just bought me two montmorency cherry trees and I am about to plant them as soon as the monsoon here in the greater Baltimore area is over. I’m going to try the clafouti. The ice cream is intriguing. I’ll have to try that…
Where did you get you pitter? I’m still working with a tiny hand-held job, if you can believe that…
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Comment by peabody
Saw that story. I do love sour cherry season!
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Comment by mamster
Maggi, I got my pitter at Sur La Table. It is handheld; they also sell a “high-volume cherry pitter” which looks scary. Fun scary.
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Comment by Laurie
Dana posted her recipes for goat cheese panna cotta and cherry pit ice cream:
http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/05/12/sour-cherries/
Posted on May 13, 2008 at 5:10 am
Comment by Dana
I wouldn’t argue with the French, it’s always a loosing battle…. and yes, they do in fact leave the cherry pits in. This is also common in, well, every european culture. I have been told that you just know the pits will be there and to spit them out. Kind of like watermelon before they mucked it up by making it seedless.
If you do this though, you’ll never get to make the cherry pit ice cream!
I also like to take the kernals from the pits, pulse them with sugar in a food processor, and toss that sugar with stone fruits in pies, cobblers, and so on.
Posted on May 24, 2008 at 11:44 am