Sour cherry panic

A farmer at the Mt. Prospect farmers market told me the sour cherries will be early this year-- like before the 4th of July. I'm going nuts now, because I will be in Lake Tahoe from June 29th-July 6. I am hoping they will still be around when I get back but I'm going to try and hit a few markets before leaving as well. Any reports of early sightings would be very welcome!

Last year I put some up in vodka and some in cognac and boy were they good. I'm still hoarding a couple of little jars and want to make a lot more this year.

bibi rose wrote:A farmer at the Mt. Prospect farmers market told me the sour cherries will be early this year-- like before the 4th of July. I'm going nuts now, because I will be in Lake Tahoe from June 29th-July 6. I am hoping they will still be around when I get back but I'm going to try and hit a few markets before leaving as well. Any reports of early sightings would be very welcome!

Last year I put some up in vodka and some in cognac and boy were they good. I'm still hoarding a couple of little jars and want to make a lot more this year.

I have not seen sour cherries, but Oak Park had sweet cherries the last two weeks, so, yeah it does seem early for cherries.

My next door neighbor has a tree full of sour cherry's ready to be picked.

He told me to take as many as I wanted -- however I've never had them before.

What do people like to do with these things?

I have a tree full of sour cherries ready to be picked as well. If you want to climb a ladder and fight the squirrels and birds they're yours. Or anyone else's.

trs23 wrote:What do people like to do with these things?

In addition to putting them in booze and letting them sit for a few months, I like to eat them over Greek yogurt with sugar.

They make awesome jams and pies too; my mother always made a ton when we spent summers in Michigan.

As I was waiting for a table at Spacca Napoli tonight, I just happened to notice a cherry tree at the northeast corner of Sunnyside and Ravenswood, on the parkway, right in front of an industrial building. It was full and they looked tasty and I was very hungry. So I had one, and then another and another. They were excellent . . . nice and tart.

Then while eating outside, I noticed that it seemed to be a popular dessert spot for many leaving SN. Funny!

Some years ago I spotted a very reasonably-priced small case of cherries (don't remember if it was a super- or a farmer's market) and brought them to a friend's house as my contribution to dinner.

Attempting to eat them out of hand revealed their sourness... which we should have read on the side of the case (annoyed grunt).

When you have lemons, ur, cherries sour as lemons, what do you do? No, not cherry-ade, although that might have been tasty. My host happened to have an ice cream sleeve in the freezer, milk, sugar, vanilla... we made an awesome cherry vanilla ice cream. Everybody chipped in to pit the cherries, keeping as much juice as we could. The tart cherries and sweet vanilla cream made a wonderful desert.

A couple of years ago, Mon Ami Gabi had a dessert special of cherry crepes. They were wonderful. Last year I made some myself, and I'm going to make more tomorrow.

I make a sauce of the cherries in a skillet by melting a cup of sugar, a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of fresh lemon, and then cook the cherries in the sauce. Remove the cherries when they're done, and then thicken the sauce, and add the cherries back.

This year I'm just folding the crepes into quarters, and then pouring the cherries over the crepes. Some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on the side.

I also make cherry pie filling and then can it for later, or use it right away to make cherry pie or cherry turnovers with purchased puff pasty.

At the farmer's market in Aurora, one stand had a lonely box of cherries last week, and said they'd have more this weekend.

Okay, here's my sour cherry story, from many years ago when my tree was small enough that I could reach the cherries (we planted the tree; it was supposed to be semi-dwarf topping out at about 12 feet but it's probably at least 30).

My plan, after picking all those cherries and discarding the ones with bugs in them, and pitting them, was to make cherry jam. It was an incredibly hot day, but I made maybe a dozen pints of jam. They never jelled.

The block sale was coming up and I put them out, labeled as cherry syrup, and told people to try it on pancakes or ice cream. Eventually I got rid of it all. I haven't tried to make anything with our cherries since.

But for at least five years afterwards, people came up to me at the block sale and asked if I had any of that great cherry syrup for sale.

Ann Fisher wrote:But for at least five years afterwards, people came up to me at the block sale and asked if I had any of that great cherry syrup for sale.

Ann,

A Eureka! Moment*. You could have given up your profession, sewn a funny/cute cherry pit hat, started going to farmers markets, then placement in small groceries, then regional, soon Kraft would come a-knocking on your door and, instead of fighting traffic to your office this morning, you'd be watching the sunrise while sipping champagne w/sour cherry juice on the deck of your 240-foot yacht anchored in the Aegean.

Or not.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Chocolate and peanut butter have done pretty well together.

Ann Fisher wrote:Okay, here's my sour cherry story, from many years ago when my tree was small enough that I could reach the cherries (we planted the tree; it was supposed to be semi-dwarf topping out at about 12 feet but it's probably at least 30).

Apparently you have to control the size of fruit trees by judicious pruning, etc, if you want to keep them small. I've been reading up on it, because I want a cherry or apricot tree in the backyard, but have boatloads of wires just about 16 feet off the ground

(speaking of which, anyone want a free ornamental pear tree? proven to survive the chicago winter!)

When I was in Turkey recently, I developed a taste for sour cherry juice. It's all over the place there. They sell it in cans at convenient stores and serve it at breakfast. I've also seen it sold in boxes here at Andie's market. (I'm sure that it's at any place that serves a middle eastern or european clientele.) I wonder how hard it would be to make it from scratch. Do those sour cherries give off much juice?

Sour cherries on top of greek yogurt also sounds tasty. Very refreshing on a hot day, I'll bet.

Sour cherry juice is available at most Middle Eastern and Eastern European markets -- heavily sugared, of course, but nothing matches the flavor of sour cherries.

Another possibility is Hungarian Sour Cherry Pie:

Meggyleves
(Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup)
6 cups water
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 stick cinnamon
1 lb. sour cherries, pitted
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tsp. flour
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt

Put water, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick in a large pot and bring to the boil. Add cherries and sugar, stir, and simmer for 10–20 minutes, or until cherries are tender. Remove cinnamon stick. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and sour cream, and beat until smooth. Ladle about a cup of the hot cherry liquid into the sour cream mixture, and stir vigorously to combine. Then pour the sour cream mixture into the soup pot and stir well to combine with cherry soup. Simmer for an additional 5 or 6 minutes, until the soup begins to thicken. Cover the soup. Let it cool for a while before putting it in the refrigerator, then chill, still covered, until chilled through. (Soup will develop a “skin” if you don’t cover the pot.) Serve cold. Serves 6–8.

(For those who are concerned, I hold the copyright on this version of the recipe, so I'm not infringing on anyone else.)

Two (at least) vendors at the Oak Park FM had sour cherries this morning. One vendor's product looked just like sweet cherries...same color and all...while the ones I bought are the ones I'm more familiar with...a lighter color and smaller fruit. I was told this is the first week they've been ripe.

Now I just have to figure out what I want to do with them.

I'm surprised noone's linked in this old post yet. So...I will. I've been looking forward to trying this all year. Hopefully none of my family members are reading this b/c this may be their holiday gift this year.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4355&highlight=vodka+cherries

Interesting to see that was only the beginning of July.

I was following that thread and I also put up some in vodka and some in Chalfonte cognac. By the time I opened them the cherry flavor was so strong that I'm not sure the cognac was worth the bother; the vodka was just fine. I did them in little jars so I could give some out as gifts.

I did the same thing with small plums too. The texture was awful but I think that was just a problem with the plums. The taste was pretty good, not nearly as good as the cherries though.

Diannie wrote:Two (at least) vendors at the Oak Park FM had sour cherries this morning. One vendor's product looked just like sweet cherries...same color and all...while the ones I bought are the ones I'm more familiar with...a lighter color and smaller fruit. I was told this is the first week they've been ripe.

There is the traditional, lighter color fruit, and some folks in Michigan have been growing a variety imported (or cloned, or grafted?) from somewhere else (Hungary?) that is called Balaton. It is supposed to be very like the Hungarian Morello variety. They are darker and larger. In my tasting, out of hand the Balaton are better, but cooked they are not. They didn't seem to have as much acid as the lighter ones, and had a much more subtle flavor. They did hold their shape better, and were much darker.

I mentioned them in apost last summer dated July 12. Mick Klug was selling them. He goes to Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, Near North (Division), Green City and Federal Plaza among other markets. Noteworthy is that they were only labeled as sour cherries. Nobody acted on my suggestion that they should be labeled as Balaton cherries because some people know what they are. I asked because I suspected that these cherries were of the Morello family. Mick is often at his stand in Lincoln Square on Tuesday. I'll bug him about labeling and his Internet publicity this week if I see him.

Michigan State University introduced this specific variety in the United States as the trademarked variety Balaton rather than Bunched of Újfehértói as it is called in Hungary. The linked MSU site probably has more information than most normal people would want but will appeal to many LTHers.

Cherries in the Morello class tend to have deeper color in the skin and flesh when fully ripe than do the common Montmorency. Northstar, which is what I suspect Ann Fisher planted having had similar experience with one, has a Morello among its ancestors. These cherries can be picked when they are the shade of red common in Montmorency. However, at this stage acidity will be high, sugar low and flavor low. They need to be allowed to reach a dark red similar to many sweet cherries to have their fullest flavor. Both Northstar and Balaton make excellent jam provided one allows for jelling capacity being greater than Montmorency.

Panic over-- sort of. After a fruitless (so to speak) trip to the Arlington Heights farmers market yesterday, I snagged several quarts in Mt. Prospect this morning, beofre the market was even open. They are quite good looking, if less acid than I remember last year's being. The vendor had only a small supply and confirmed that they'll probably be all done in under 2 weeks.

The guy who comes to Arlington Heights did bring some yesterday; I just got there too late. He says he pits and freezes them and sells them that way throughout the summer, so I'm going to check that out later on.

Now, reading the currant thread, I want to find some of those and make summer pudding. We love that here.

So, I've got two quarts (should have bought more) of sour cherries from the hyde park farmer's market sitting in my fridge, the last of the season (and they look it- certainly more tired than the ones I picked up just before the fourth of july). I was planning to can them, but I think I may just make them into a pie to take to the grant park showing of High Noon tomorrow, as I have two frozen rounds of leaf lard/butter crust taking up space in my overloaded freezer. ..

I'm intrigued by the boozy cherry idea though... I bet they'd be fantastic in the manhattans the boyfriend and I are so fond of; better at least than cloying faux maraschinos. What is the preparation method? Does the alcohol alone act as a preservative (like the raspberry infused stoli I made and have been hoarding since last summer with bruised and bountiful farmer's market bounty)? Should they be refrigerated? A light syrup made with the booze? I'd like to pick through and find the best of the bunch to preserve this way, and toss the rest into a pie for our picnic with friends tomorrow...

Hi,

You might want to consult this thread on cherries in vodka.

Regards,

I doubled this recipe and have a gallon resting until October.

Cherry Bounce

1 quart sour cherries
1 pound sugar
1 fifth bourbon

Wash and pick over cherries, removing stems, and drain. Pour moist cherries into a half-gallon jug. Pour ½ cup sugar over moist cherries, then shake until cherries are coated. Pour remaining sugar on top of cherries. Do not mix. Place cap on jug loosely to prevent pressure build-up. Let stand until sugar melts on top of cherries, then stir by revolving jug. Repeat until all sugar is dissolved.
Let stand for 2 months.

Pour bourbon over cherries and close jug tightly. Let stand 3 or 4 months. During the 3 month period, revolve jug occasionally. Strain through cheesecloth and pour into bottles. (Makes about ½ gallon)

I just picked up a beautiful quart of cherries at the Madison Farmers Market on Saturday and was told by the vendors from Door County that they have another week of good cherries left. Hopefully some of those Door County cherries will make it to Chicago...

I too got some more sour cherries this past weekend after thinking they would be over by now. Quality was still pretty good, just not what it was earlier in the season. Previous weeks I put them in jars with vodka and some with Chalfonte cognac; this week I picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels and tried that. I am using small jars so I can give them out as gifts. We have also eaten a surprising number of the cherries over ice cream and yogurt. Next year I may try to be more organized and make some jam, although I must say everyone loves the boozy cherries.

Last year I tried the booze on some tiny plums and that didn't so much work out. They are still very sort of crunchy and taste like alcohol.

I used a three-prong plan of attack for the cherries- picked over the choicest ones, filled a repurposed Maille mustard jar with them and topped up with Old Overholt. Simplicity itself.

One quart went into an empty Piece growler, on its way to becoming cherry bounce. Not sure how this is supposed to taste, but given the smells coming from the jar only two days in, the results will be heavenly. I can't wait till october... or so.

The rest were stemmed, pitted... half were put into a saucepan with some brandy, triple sec, lemon juice, and sugar, and simmered until the juices formed a syrup. Added the other reserved cherries to the reduced mixture, lined a tart shell with a half-butter, half-leaf lard crust, filled with frangipane cream per Julia, (made with crushed hyde park produce mart-sourced amaretti), topped with the cherry mixture and a lattice crust. Sprinkled with turbinado for sparkle and the sieved bits of biggish pieces of amaretti for crunch. Took to grant park for "High Noon" picnic. Devoured. No photographic evidence remains, unfortunately... I do have a half batch of frangipane cream left, so perhaps it bears a repeat, albeit with regular ole bings or some such non-sour cherry.

My boyfriend, when I was describing all this to him (and as he's lugging the heavy cooler back from the park), suggested an intervention.
He- "You know how when alcoholics' behavior starts to interfere with their social life, and they can't go out, and can't think about other things..."
Me- "But I still have that whole bottle of raspberry cordial I made last summer... oh wait... this isn't about the booze, is it?"

Me: "My name is Carla, and I'm a Food-aholic."
LTH: "Hi, Carla."

blueswench wrote:My boyfriend, when I was describing all this to him (and as he's lugging the heavy cooler back from the park), suggested an intervention.
He- "You know how when alcoholics' behavior starts to interfere with their social life, and they can't go out, and can't think about other things..."

blueswench, if you are feeding those lovely things to a man, and he complains, well I think you need to find a different man!