Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Cherries



Posted by Picasa
Growing up in a family of fruit growers I was thrilled when we bought our house. There are two very large cherry trees in our backyard. Beside giving us shade on a hot summer day, they sometimes give us fruit. Now if we can just get to the fruit before the birds and squirrels eat all of them. I tell the birds and squirrels that they can have the top half, but just leave the bottom half for me. Even the bottom half is difficult to reach, as the trees are so large. Some years we have wonderful full trees full of cherries and some years there is very little. One tree is a Royal Anne cherry, which is now considered heirloom. They are yellow with a blush of red and very good. What a treat when we get some of them. The other is a dark cherry, maybe a Lambert or Bing, and produces more cherries. There is nothing more special in the summer sunshine than to eat fresh cherries right from the tree.
On the years when we have an excess of fruit, I have canned cherries and made pies. If you have an excess of fruit, what do you do with them?

5 comments:

Annie Jeffries said...

Do you ever dry the cherries Marilyn? I love the tart sweetness of dried cherries.

Marilyn Miller said...

Dried is a very good idea! Thanks Annie.

parTea lady said...

I often use dried cherries in scones - delicious. The recipe I use is from the Winter 2005 Tea Experience Digest.

You are fortunate to have these lovely cherry trees in your backyard. I just purchased a small bag of cherries at Publix yesterday and it cost me over
$7.00.

Steph said...

I started salivating the minute I opened your page!

La Tea Dah said...

Royal Anne's are my all-time, very favorite cherry. Good out of hand, I also love to can them. They look so rosy and pretty in the jars. My in-laws have Royal Anne's in their orchard. But all cherries are good --- including the Prosser Chukar Cherries that they dip in chocolate or add other embellishments to! So good! Have you ever been to one of their tasting bars?