The Brief, Sweet Season of Sour Cherries
A Fleeting Summer Delight
It may be much too hot where you live to even think about going near a stove. So read this post and tuck it away for a cooler day, but be sure to scroll to the end for an icy treat for the summer heat. —Jolene
“Do you think you’ll have them next week?”
This question, anticipating the arrival of the season’s sour cherries, could be heard weekly from regulars at the SOARS farmer’s market in Chicago starting in late June.
Then, two weeks ago, the first of these fleeting beauties arrived. Small, vivid red, more perishable than their sweet cherry cousins, they look like little jewels sitting on the tables representing well the Michigan farms where they were grown.
It’s a two or three hour drive, sometimes more, to get from the Michigan farms to downtown Chicago by 7am for the market open. I look so forward to going every Tuesday morning, and along with the blueberries and peaches and cherries from Michigan there is beautiful produce and eggs and baked goods from local Illinois farms and vendors as well.
Around 70% of all sour cherries in the U.S. are grown in Michigan. Traverse City in the northern part of Michigan’s lower peninsula is celebrated as the ‘Cherry Capital of the World’, complete with a yearly festival that draws a half million people to it: https://www.cherryfestival.org
But things have been difficult for the cherry farmers over the past two years as they faced challenges including erratic weather and invasive pests that kept yields of the crop well below average.
This year the good news is the crop yield is markedly better, but there are still headwinds. Read: MichiganFarmNews
The tart cherry season goes from about mid-late June to mid-late July and once you get them home, unless you’re going to freeze them, it’s a good idea to use them within about three days.
I decided to make a crumble and wow was it good. It’s so easy and the only task that takes some time is pitting the cherries, but with music on you get into a rhythm and can sit while doing it, a rare treat in the kitchen. I used the flat end of a skewer to punch out the pits, but use whatever works for you: cherry pitter, paring knife, pin, etc.
This is the recipe from Saveur that I made and the only substitution I did was cornstarch in place of tapioca starch which I didn’t have on hand. The crumble was done in exactly 50 minutes.
One of my taste testers wanted a little more sweetness, so if someone in your house has a bit of a sweet tooth, just add the tiniest bit more sugar to the cherry mixture. Or, make sure to have ice cream or sweetened whipped cream to accompany the crumble. Note: the other two testers did not prefer more sugar (I was one of them;) and because it’s not too sweet it’s such a nice treat for breakfast with a cup of coffee or tea.
For the Sour Cherry Crumble recipe, click Here.
And as for the ice cream, as Ina Garten would say, “store-bought is fine” (which is what I served) but if you make homemade ice cream, that would be extra delicious on the crumble.
If you don’t live in a region where sour cherries are available, an online search of ‘Order Michigan Sour Cherries’ will pull up sites that will lead you to farms that may ship to your area.
The Armchair Time Traveler
I want to go here!
A little bit south of Traverse City is The Cherry Hut which started its 100-year-run as a pie stand in 1922.
The photos of the pies look so old-fashioned good, and how about this 1950 menu they’ve posted? Besides the prices and all of the delicious cherry desserts, a few things immediately caught my eye: Cherry Jelly and Peanut Butter (never had anything but grape); Frosted Cherry Ade (sounds so good in this heat!) and Cherry Dubonnet Ice Cream, which I would absolutely have to try.
To visit The Cherry Hut website, visit:
https://www.cherryhut.com
They have an online store and I’m seeing a delivery of sour cherry jam in my future.
Join me Tuesday?
This Tuesday I’ll be (attempting) to recreate the famous Belgian Waffles with powdered sugar, whipped cream and fresh strawberries that were the hit of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. I’ll also be sharing my memories of being a wide-eyed ten-year-old at the fair.
If you’d like to enjoy this additional content and support my work on Time Travel Kitchen, consider becoming a paid subscriber! Gift subscriptions are also available. Just hit the subscribe button below to upgrade and I hope to see you Tuesday when we talk all things Belgian Waffles and 1964 World’s Fair.
And Finally: Granita-Of-The-Week-Club
I’ve been hooked on making granita since I read about and made DomenicaMarchetti’s Blood Orange and Campari recipe a few weeks ago.
Since it’s blazing hot outside, I’ve established my own ‘granita-of-the-week-club’ and here’s this week’s: An ice-cold lime granita (I even frosted the glass in the freezer) that is the perfect treat for this weather.
It’s the easiest: make a simple syrup (boil sugar and water) zest a lime, squeeze some limes for juice and strain, assemble, freeze, rake, repeat, that’s it. I confess I threw it together without measuring, I’ve been making so many, but here’s a quick recipe from An Italian in my kitchen: Recipe
Enjoy!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Stay cool!
Jolene
Oh, my good this was definitely a time travel! Back to the 1960's and 70's when I grew up in the Niagara Fruit Belt. My mother would get full bushels of sour cherries from the neighbour whose wife owned orchards between my home town and Olcott Beach. The Cherry Cobbler! The cherry pies! And bags of frozen cherries that came out during those grey Western New York winters.
Oh, my good this was definitely a time travel! Back to the 1960's and 70's when I grew up in the Niagara Fruit Belt. My mother would get full bushels of sour cherries from the neighbour whose wife owned orchards between my home town and Olcott Beach. The Cherry Cobbler! The cherry pies! And bags of frozen cherries that came out during those grey Western New York winters.