Pucker Up
Sour cherries bring back memories of my childhood. My maternal grandmother had a big sour cherry tree in her back yard. When the cherries were ripe, my grandpa would erect scaffolding around the tree and we’d go down and pick cherries. We’d spend hours pitting them, then my mom would make a pie and the rest went into the freezer to make sauce for ham and maybe another pie or two.
I planted a few sour cherries trees in Ohio, but they didn’t produce much before we moved. I haven’t planted any here yet (not sure why). Lucky for me, the neighbors have a tree that produces much more than they want or need. Thus I am able to head down and pick cherries at their place.
They can’t remember for sure which variety it is, I’m fairly certain it’s a ‘Montmorency’. I’m happy to have a few pints of cherries tucked into the freezer to be made into scones when the snow flies outside. Personally, I much prefer sour cherries to sweet cherries. I have plans to add a few trees to the garden, in fact I saved a handful of these pits and they’re tucked in the fridge in a container of peat moss hoping they’ll sprout.
Do you grow sour cherries? What’s your favorite way to enjoy them?
Filed under Freezing, Harvest Keepers Challenge | Comments (5)
Our elderly neighbors (Sue & Mrs. Scott) had trees in their backyard. I remember going over with Mom and picking them, eating them, and making cobbler. We had lots of kids in the neighborhood so we all would go climb and eat cherries. Mrs. Scott and Sue loved coming out and sitting in the yard talking with all the kids :)
to PennyAshevilleNC's comment
We have one sour cherry tree and we’re on year three and getting lots of fruit (earlier, though, we get them in July). We love making Clafoutis with them, I freeze a few bags to make it in the wintertime.
to Sara's comment
Ooh, and this year I’m steeping the pits in vodka to attempt an almond/cherry-ish extract. Results are not yet in, but it’s about time to strain it. Smelled good last time I checked!
to Sara's comment
We planted two sour cherry trees shortly after moving to the country (8 years ago). They seem to alternate between bountiful years and okay years. This year was okay (but I that’s all right – I still have cherries in the freezer from the bountiful year). I pit them and freeze them for pie and I also make sour cherry jam. Delicious!
to Kristen's comment
I grew up in Ukraine. We didn’t have a garden then, but we purchased sour cherries often, and we purchased a lot of them. We put up cherry preserves, cherry compote, we froze them. We made amazing pies and cakes with them, and my favorites were cherry strudel and cherry stuffed pierogi. Nothing beats black cherry preserves with hot black tea in winter. They smell amazing! Some day when I move into a slightly cooler climate, I will plant a sour cherry tree and will eat as many of the cherries as I can…
to Eat Already!'s comment