"Keep them refrigerated with the pits in. "Look for a deeper, blackish-red as the bright red might be immature and not very flavorful," says Baugher. However, with most sweet cherries, the darker the red, the better. When selecting a cherry, it helps to know what variety you are selecting because cherries have different indicators of ripeness. "The texture of the firm fruit, the soft cream cheese and that flavor blast really accentuates the spice cake." He adds that the cream cheese can be sweetened with a little sugar and lemon juice. "Make a spice cake, slice it thin horizontally, smear it with cream cheese, dot it with fresh sweet cherries that have been pitted, and basically close it back up and it's ready for slicing," says Wentz. "I think the sour cherries have a little more cherry flavor, so to speak, because if you took the sugars away from the sweet cherries, I think you have inferior quality of flavors."Īccording to Wentz, there are endless ways to use fresh cherries, from adding them to a demiglace for lamb or chicken to including them in desserts. Gregory Wentz, certified executive chef and a chef instructor at the Baltimore International College, prefers sour cherries for cooking. He says that while customers often buy sour cherries for making jam and pies, he's seen a rising demand for the fruit for savory dishes, especially now that new research indicates sour cherries are a source of antioxidants, including melatonin, which may help with everything from the pain of arthritis to fighting cancer. Baugher dips them in a little sugar before eating them raw. However, Longo likes to snack on sour cherries, gently smashing them with the palm of her hand to remove the pit. "I had an employee bring me in sour cherries from their house and I cannot imagine using them for anything other than making jam!" says Wolf. sour cherries, the kitchen divides down personal taste lines. "Cherries ground up into a puree have a wonderful texture to make into sorbet or ice cream and, in terms of stewing or putting into a pie, they tend to hold their shape well." You don't have another piece of fruit that tastes like a cherry," says Longo. And it's not like when you have a peach and a nectarine that have a similar fleshy texture. "Because they have more than one variety, you have something for the folks that want something sweet and you have the sour cherry for those who like the sour you have an option. It is this versatility that makes cherries such a hit with cooks. A sour cherry (sometimes called a tart cherry) can make an unseasoned eater pucker. A Queen Anne will have a milder sweetness than a deep, dark-red variety. There are as many varieties of cherries as there are shades of red, from the Queen Anne, which is a cream-colored cherry with a slight red blush, to the deep-red Bing cherry that is the most famous sweet cherry.Ĭherries also vary in flavor. "If you are into making foie gras at home, that's easy to do and just a breathtaking way to eat cherries," she says. Some of Wolf's other favorite cherry dishes show up on the menu at her restaurant Charleston, like cherries marinated in raspberry vinegar with a little sugar served with pan-seared foie gras. The remainder of the meal features some traditional incarnations of the cherry such as duck in a cherry sauce and the quintessential French dessert, clafoutis. If you did blink and missed the opportunity to pick up some sour cherries, not all is lost-tart cherry juice can provide some of the same nutritional perks as the fruit.The menu features a cold soup of Bing cherries and nectarines complemented by the addition of lime juice, which heightens the flavor of the fruit. They do shine, however, in baked goods, as part of beverages like cherry-infused iced tea and lemonade, or chopped up into salsa that you can use on the side of fish and poultry dinners.
A recent review of studies published in the journal Nutrients determined that eating cherries had a positive effect on decreasing inflammation and blood pressure, improving sleep, helping with symptoms of arthritis, and reducing muscle soreness after a rigorous workout.Īs the name suggests, sour cherries are tarter than their sweeter siblings, so you’re unlikely to chew on them by the handful. Their season lasts just a couple weeks during July, so it’s unlikely that you find the picture-perfect fruit in the grocery stores.īoth sour and sweet cherries-which you’re more likely to pick up at the supermarket throughout the summer-provide a bevy of antioxidants that can do wonders for your body. If you time it right and watch out for them, though, you could get lucky and pick up a few pounds of sour cherries sometime this month at farmers markets. Blink, and you’ll miss sour cherry season in Maryland.
0 kommentar(er)
