The early birds got the cherries
Photo by Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times
Today’s Front Burner column in the Extra section is about cherries, which have ripened earlier this year than some growers can ever recall. I know I had a passel of them on my cherry tree (pictured here) and I could only reach a tiny percentage of them. Look at all the cherries in this picture that I could not reach! Maybe I should rent a cherry picker next year!
Here is a link to my column.
Click these links for the recipes that ran with my column:
Mom’s Fruit Cobbler
Cherry-Cashew Cookies
Cherry Bounce (a cherry-infused liquor)
I didn’t have room to fit a couple of other recipes in print today, but you can find them in the PlateUp database by clicking the links below:
Strawberry-Cherry Coconut Crumble
Cherry (or Strawberry) Muffins
After you read the column and/or check out the recipes, I’ll be interested in your thoughts about a couple of different things. First, do you have a cherry tree or memories of growing up with a tree that produced enough cherries every year to do a picking?
Second, I’d like to know how my family’s cobbler recipe compares to any cobbler recipes you may have used before. Because I find that a lot of people who say “cobbler” actually mean something much different than what I grew up with. For example, some people call fruit with a pastry crust on top a “cobbler,” but that’s never been my idea of one. I’m not saying any one is right or wrong, I would just like to conduct a little sociological culinary experiment.
May 30, 2012 - 3:37 PM
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Years ago, my dad had a cherry tree but the birds always got them before he could. He finally chopped it down one year. He had much better luck with his apple tree.
Your mom’s cobbler recipe is like the one I’ve always used. I bought some sweet cherries at the farmers market on Saturday and made a cherry clafouti. I’d never made one before but figured I couldn’t go wrong with Julia Child’s recipe.
It was so easy to make and tastes very good. It reminds me of a cross between a cobbler and a pancake.
http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2004/06/julia-childs-clafoutirecipe.html
This is the same cobbler recipe I’ve used for years. It’s easy and delicious!
We had the biggest cheery tree on our farm I have ever seen. We made jelly, jam, and the best wine I ever tasted. This was in the late 60′s the early 70′s We lived in Patrick Co. Everything that one would need grew there. Yes incluing the “weed”
Lindsey, your mother’s recipe is the same one that I’ve used since I was 17 years old (a long time ago)! I also like the cobblers with the pastry crust.
Last Friday, I bought some cherries when I went to the city market and my grandson and I made cherry popscicles using the recipe that you shared. He loved them! We couldn’t find cherry juice, so we used cranberry cherry juice instead and agave syrup instead of honey. They still turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
That is the way my mom makes cobblers. Which is how my grandmother made them too. I remember when I was a kid watching them make it like your recipe states. But when you take it out of the oven the “crust” would be on top. The only time they ever put a pastry crust on top was when they mad a pie.
@Eric, yep, when you make the cobbler you drop the fruit in the batter but then the batter puffs up around it when it bakes. Yummy.
I am happy to hear that Mom’s cobbler recipe is similar or identical to the ones others use.
@Vickie, I’m so happy to hear that you tried one of those freezer pop recipes and liked it. I wondered about how easy it would be to find cherry juice when I transcribed it. I know a lot of juice comes off fresh cherries when you pit them and let them sit for a bit, so that would be a good use for that juice.
This recipe for cherry sauce is delicious: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/whole_grain_waffles_cherry_sauce.html
We used it on waffles and have been eating it mixed into plain yogurt. Seems to be a good way to use frozen cherries or to ‘preserve’ fresh ones for a week or so.
We’ve used a similary hot cherry sauce to put on roast ham and even glaze it…it’s great.
I’ve been thinking of working on a cherry sauce for roasted pork tenderloin. But Howard got a bad stomach bug right after eating pork with a dried fruit stuffing a few years ago and now claims that meat with fruit is unappetizing to him. I swear I did not give him food poisoning.
Has that ever happened to anyone else? I got sick after eating chicken fettuccini Alfredo one time and still don’t eat it. I know I’m off topic.
You can find bottled cherry juice in the organic juice section at Kroger.
Years ago, I became quite ill from eating “creecy salad” and couldn’t eat it again for many years. My son got sick eating crab and wouldn’t eat them again for a long time, but believe me, he absolutely loves them now, just as much as before he got sick.
Thanks, Debbie!
I just came upon your blog, doing a search “why are my cherries so small”. We bought a house in South-Central PA last year, but we’re still living in NY, so we visit the house on weekends only. Well, last weekend, to our surprise, we realized that one of the trees in the field is a cherry tree!!! And they’re small, so we must have the same type of tree. Ours is also very tall, and I’m sure this weekend when I take the ladder out, I’ll also be looking at the top branches, that I won’t be able to reach.
Well, now that you know that someone else is going through the same as you, hehe, I wanted to ask you, did you pit your cherries before freezing them? Have you eaten any of the ones you froze? That’s my ultimate question, how do I preserve all those tasty cherries! I don’t want to can them with loads of sugar, I want to preserve them in their natural state as long as possible. Do you have any advice?
Sorry for the long comment, I intended to send it as an e-mail, before I realized I could leave a comment