These beauties are lit-from-within jewels still hanging on the tree. Picked the day before the 4th, when serious storms threatened and the dew point spiked.
Sour cherries were the first fruit I really made my own with preserving. Growing up, sour cherries were known to me only in pie, really; with Mum, we preserved berries, apples, and some herb jellies but not so much the stone fruits. Living in the Hudson Valley when my son was young, I discovered that nearby Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook had these exotic-seeming sour cherries, and I was hooked. Jar after jar were put up and became Christmas gifts eagerly awaited; sour cherry is not such a common preserve flavor. Must be the pain of pitting, because otherwise would be unstoppable, the best cherry pie you can imagine, in a jar.
Like a fruit mother who has a large brood and loves each and every one yet can’t help but have a few secret favorites, I confess sour cherries are one of mine. Often confused with those darker red beauty crabapples up top next to my blog title there, but soft, glowing, and uniquely themselves. I mean, just look at them! They look like maraschinos!
And that’s part of their appeal for me: they are not entirely what they seem. You expect sweetness but are surprised by their tartness. Either you walk on looking for those big, dark, easy sweet cherries or pick 10 pounds of these little guys knowing it is so worth it.
