Cherry Heartbreak

Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate with the fruit trees. When stone fruits (cherries, peaches, apricots, etc.) get too much water at just the wrong time, they crack. They still taste great, but they’re fragile, and this makes it difficult for farmers to get them to market without any additional damage. Making things worse, it continued to rain last week during the sweet cherries’ pitifully short season. (The hail storms haven’t helped.) I had hoped to pick about 10 pounds at Mood’s, my favorite Pick-Your-Own in South Jersey, but when I called Saturday they told me not to bother if I wanted sweet cherries, but that I might have better luck with sour cherries, starting this week.

So, I did the next best—if expensive—thing. I bought 4 pints of cherries at my local farmer’s market for $12. For the sake of variety, I bought 1 pint of Bing, 1 pint of Ranier, and 2 pints of a dark red kind whose name I don’t know (pictured above). I know there’s a cult of Bing cherries, but must confess that I don’t get it. They were tasty, certainly, but nothing compared to the juicy luciousness of the dark red ones. And since we had so few to eat, no cherry jam this year unless I yield to temptation and buy a big bag of Washington cherries from Whole Foods.

Last year we dehydrated some cherries down to their intense, sweet/tart essence, so I thought I’d do the same to some of the Raniers and Bings in hopes of improving their flavor—but again, I was disappointed.  I suspect they’ll make a nice fruit compote, but they’re surprisingly flavorless on their own. Still, if you have access to an excess of good cherries, it’s worth giving it a try. Just pit them, split them in half, and arrange them cut side up in the dehydrator. You should start checking after 12 hours, but it may take as long as 18.

I guess I just have to move to an orchard. Sigh.