Should the sweet red cherry be voted as president of all stone fruits? For your diet they promise all sorts of health benefits, and no one denies they do it in good taste.
Survey some of their fine qualities and the nutritional facts , then proceed to dessert and make a dish to celebrate.
Bing Cherries, Royal Anne, Sweetheart
These are all names for a type of sweet cherry that is premier for out-of-hand, fresh eating. Like their sour counterparts the tart cherries, sweet cherries are also good for you. There are numerous health claims for them, and most people love their flavor.
In season, they are a juicy delicious treat eaten fresh, but also make wonderful desserts and pies. If you like to bake desserts you might be more familiar with the tart cherry, but Bing types can deliver delicious results, too.
You can grow your own if you plant a cherry tree of the right variety (or two). I planted several Prunus avium ( he proper Latin name for these trees) on my property many years ago. I became interested in the health properties of these red fruits when my Dad had developed gout many years ago.
There have been plenty of new findings on why we should eat fruits and vegetables more, so let’s find out about that!
Health Benefits of Cherries
Both the sweet and tart cherries have similar nutrients and antioxidants, but the tart type have more benefits.
Lots of Vitamin A: Almost 20X more Vitamin A than strawberries or blueberries.
These fruits have melatonin which aids sleep.
Cherries have antioxidants known as anthocyanins (they give the purple-red color). Good for the brain.
Cherries have anti-inflammatory properties.
This stone fruit also has anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acid, and perillyl alcohol, which is believed to protect against cancers.
Fresh sweet cherries are available from late May through August. Shiny, firm,fleshy, and with good color are the qualities you look for in Sweet cherries. Cover and refrigerate for up to a week. Don’t wash before storing, wait until ready to serve.
Buying Cherries
Sweet cherries are at their peak from late June through July. In season they are best eaten fresh, but can be frozen, preserved, or canned for use in other times of the year
How Do You Pit A Cherry?
Stone Fruits
These are a drupe, like peaches, nectarines, and plums. They bloom early in spring and sometimes suffer from late frosts.
It is necessary to pit the fruits before using in your recipes.
How to pit a cherry
A cherry can be pitted using a simple paring knife, or a stick like a shish-ka-bob grilling stick. Remove the stem. Probe for the seed. Use your utensil and twist the seed out. Throw away the pit.
If you have lots of cherries that is tedious work.
The easy way is to get a cherry pitter- one of the labor saving devices of yore. It works well and saves lots of grief.
OXO Cherry Pitter – is the most highly recommended
If you have a cherry tree or buy large amounts of cherries in season- you know the need for a OXO Good Grips Cherry Pitter. Yes, we can use a paring knife, but it is so awkward compared to the tool designed for the job.
Simple, Fresh Presentation
Serving fresh sweet cherries
Simply wash them, and serve chilled in a bowl. That is the best way. Whipped cream is a nice side, or mixed with pitted sweet cherries, it becomes “Cherry Fool”. Spoon cherries onto vanilla ice cream.
Sweet Cherries Available In Grocery Stores
During the summer months these deep red fruits are sold by the bag or in bins for weighing out your own. Delicious fresh from your fridge.
Traditional Fruit Recipes
“Rustic fruit desserts” – nothing says homemade better than simple fruit recipes of the past. They are interwoven into the history of the American nation. We may not have the same chores as back then, but we truly have the same desire for something good to top off a meal. we want it to be easy and quick to make, and these cobblers, buckles…even “grunts” will fill the bill, and fill your kitchen with delicious desserts.
Beat the sugar and eggs together with a whisk until they lighter in color. Whisk in the butter gradually into egg mixture.
Add the flour and salt all at once and whisk until the batter is well mixed.
Slowly pour in the milk a little at a time. Add the extract, and brandy and mix well. The batter should be very smooth and shiny.
Place the cherries in a buttered glass 9 " baking dish.
Pour the batter over the fruit. Bake approximately 30-40 minutes,, until lightly brown and set.
Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving in wedges. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and dollop of whipped cream.
Notes
In years when my sweet cherry trees produced well, I had an overabundance of cherries and made cherry desserts like this.
The Beauty of Plump Red Cherries
These fruits are just plain beautiful, and they, along with their cousins the sour cherries are the objects of many paintings and decorative motifs.
Harvest When Ripe
Both sweet and sour cherries have extremely short shelf lives.
Attractive To Look At, As Well As To Serve
There’s something so quintessentially summer about a big bowl of cherries. ~Rebecca
Sweet Cherry Preserves
Serve on brioche with goat cheese for breakfastFrom <a href="http://cilantropist.blogspot.com/2011/06/recipe-for-sweet-cherry-preserves.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Cilantropist</a> is this easy to follow sweet cherry preserve recipe. You will want lots of this, so be sure to buy a pitter if you don't already have one.If I am beginning to sound like a broken record in cajoling you into buying a cherry pitter it is only because of hard-earned experience in pitting a large crop of cherries from my trees.
Pit washed cherries, then chop about 1/2 or 1/3 of them into rough pieces, and leave the others whole. Add all the cherries to a medium pot along with the lemon juice.
Cook over medium heat, until bubbling, then continue to cook while stirring occasionally for about 20-25 minutes. Make sure you stir especially towards the end of that time so the juice on the bottom does not burn.
While cooking, use a spoon to smash the whole cherries to release the juice and flatten them
After the cherries are fully cooked, add the sugar, stir to mix it in and dissolve it, then continue to cook over medium-high heat for another 5-7 minutes. (Again, be sure to stir, so the sugar and cherries don't burn.)
After cooking, the juice should have started to 'gel' a bit and thicken so that it starts to coat the back of your spoon or ladle. Remove the preserves from heat, and test if they are done. If the preserves are not done, return them to the heat and cook them for a few more minutes, then test them again. When done, let the preserves cool slightly, then transfer it to jars.
Once they are cooled, they will keep refrigerated for several months.
Canning Sweet Cherries
https://youtu.be/ngzt8uKAUbk
Plant Your Own Prunus Avium
Prunus avium AKA Sweet Cherry
Sweet Cherry trees, Prunus avium, grow best in gravelly to sandy loam soils, clay soils reduce production.
They need full sunlight and pruning to maintain air and sunlight penetration within the tree.
Sweet cherries are usually harvested by hand for fresh eating.
Why do I love February? Is it the cheery Valentines or the fact that winter is almost over? It certainly isn’t the slushy snow and cold rain that often mark this month in the north of the USA. But one thing that you can always count on is the proliferation of plenty of cherry pies in this month. And there is something wonderfully delightful about this red fruit pie that is sweet to the taste, the nose and the eye! No wonder a day is set aside to celebrate the delicious cherry pie.
Always observed on on February 20th, you can have a special celebration of this tasty pie at your house. But why is cherry pie day celebrated in February?
Step By Step Instructions To Bake Your Own
Cherry Pie Recipes to Try
Delectable Lattice Pie Filled with Tart Cherry Filling
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Show off your cherry pies
A cherry red pie plate is up to the task!
Any pie would look lovely served in this pie plate, but can you picture a lattice topped, tart cherry pie filling peeking through deliciously? Display it directly on the table, or let it stand out when serving desserts.
Cherry Red Pie Dish
Emile Henry 9-Inch Pie Dish, Cerise Red This lovely fluted edge pie plate to accentuate the beauty of your cherry pie is in the appropriate color of cerise (cherry) red.
Oregon Fruits Cherry Pie Video
Cherry Pie Recipe – The one from the Oregon Fruits video shown on this lens
A video with plenty of pie making tips and taking you through the steps of how to make a lattice crust and fill it with a delicious cherry pie filling.
So gather all your ingredients and utensils and get ready to bake your own homemade pie!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can.
In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat. Gently stir in cherries and almond extract.
Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan.
Dot with butter or margarine.
Adjust crust, seal and vent. Bake for about 40 minutes. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning.
Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.
Recipe for the Pie Crust
Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
With a pastry blender, cut in shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Mix in the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough forms a ball. Do not overmix.
Divide dough into two balls.
Using a well-floured surface and rolling pin, roll each pastry ball from the center to the edges with long, even strokes.
Roll each pastry into a circle large enough to fit in a 9-inch pie plate.
Recipe on Queen of Tarts, http://blog.oregonfruit.com/how-to-videos/cherry-pie-how-to-video/
Your Baking Style
KitchenAid Double Oven For All Your Baking
Bake to your hearts delight in a dream kitchen oven. I have used both great ovens and had the unfortunate experience of poor ones. a well equipped kitchen helps make baking for special events a joy and success. I’m not just saying that.
I always wanted double ovens because at Thanksgiving and Christmas there is never enough space for the entrees and pies. KitchenAid Architect Series II KEBS277SSS.27″ Double Electric Wall Oven with Even-Heat True Convection System in Upper Oven & Temperature Probe: Stainless Steel You need an oven to bake your pies, and this one is one of the best moderately priced for the home cook.
Great cooks use reliable appliances. If you are remodeling your kitchen or looking for an additional or replacement oven, consider the great quality of a KitchenAid.
Which is best for cherry pies? Sweet or tart?
I’m sure there are those who have their preference for sweet cherries, but the tang of a tart cherry just seems made for addition to the tender crust and sweetened juices of a fruit pie. There seems to be good reason why sour cherries are also called “pie cherries”.
And while almond flavoring and vanilla extract are often called for to additionally flavor the pie filling, I like a pinch of mace. Try it! Mace is the outer part of the nutmeg and has a somewhat more subtle , but delicious flavor that it adds. Mace particularly complements cherry flavors.
Cherry Slab Pie – Delicious Recipe For A Crowd
This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen who got it from Martha Stewart. I don’t know who Martha Stewart got it from. The variation of making a slab pie is ideal for serving a large group- like at a potluck, etc.
6cupssour cherriespitted (fresh or frozen - if frozen defrost and drain first)
3/4 to 1 1/4cups sugar
1/4 cupcornstarch
Juice of half a lemon
2Pinch salt
2 tablespoonsheavy creamOR
1egg- beaten with a tablespoon of water
Glaze
1cupconfectioners sugar
1 to 2tablespoonsmilkOR
1 tablespoonwater
Pie Dough
2 1/2cupsflour
1 tablespoonsugar
1 teaspoonsalt
2sticksunsalted butter,very cold (8 ounces, 16 tablespoons or 1 cup)
Method
Directions For Pie
Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to combine; set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough into an 18-by-12-inch rectangle. Work quickly, keeping the dough as cold as possible (and tossing it in the freezer for a couple minutes if it softens too quickly; it is summer after all) and using enough flour that it doesn't stick to the counter.
Transfer to a 15-by-10-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet, (pastry will hang over sides of pan). Line with parchment, if you wish (recommended). Pour cherry mixture into lined baking sheet; set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining piece of dough into a 16-by-11-inch rectangle. Drape over filling. Bring bottom pastry up and over top pastry. Pinch edges to seal. Using a fork, prick top crust all over. Brush with heavy cream or egg wash.
Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 40 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until just warm to the touch, about 45 minutes.
In a medium bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk, water or lemon juice (your choice) until desired glaze consistency is achieved. Use a spoon to drizzle over top. Serve warm or room temperature.
For Pastry
Fill a one cup liquid measuring cup with water, and drop in a few ice cubes; set it aside.; whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. Dice two sticks (8 ounces or 1 cup) of very cold unsalted butter into 1/2-inch pieces.
Mix:
Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour and work them in with the pastry blender, blended evenly until the size of petit peas.
Drizzle 1/2 cup of the ice-cold water (but not the cubes, if there are any left!) over the butter and flour mixture.
Using a rubber or silicon spatula, gather the dough together. You'll probably need an additional 1/4 cup of cold water to bring it together, but add it a tablespoon as a time. Once you have large clumps with the spatula, mix with your hands .
Gather the clumps together, kneading them gently.
Divide the dough in half, and place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Shape it into a disk.
Let the dough chill in the fridge for one hour, but preferably at least two, before rolling it out.
Dough will keep in the fridge for about a week, and in the freezer longer. If not using it that day, wrap it in additional layers of plastic wrap to protect it from fridge/freezer smells. To defrost your dough, move it to the fridge for one day before using it.
Notes
Try this at your next buffet or potluck.
The original recipe is here, http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/sour-cherry-slab-pie/.
Sweet Little Tarts
Tart Montmorency
Tart Cherries Are Best For Pies
Pie Making Tips
From the American Pie Council
Pie Making Tips
Read the entire recipe before starting your pie. Make sure you have all of the ingredients and utensils and take time to understand all the directions. Skipping this step is the major cause of mistakes.
Cold ingredients are the one most important matter when making a great pie crust Have cold bowls and utensils for an extra measure of success. Be sure to chill the dough for at least an hour before rolling it out. Keep the shortening cold for a deliciously flaky crust.
Don’t overwork the dough. Your shortening or butter should be coated with flour mixture, not blended with it. Over handling and mixing causes gluten to form, and this is what toughens the dough. Cool your hands before handling, if possible (run under cold water and then dry thoroughly).
Transfer crust dough into the pie pan with care. Fit the dough into the dish while avoiding stretching. Trim the dough to 1″ inch over hang and tuck it under itself to create a thick rim.
With the index finger on one hand, press the dough against the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand; continue around the perimeter of the crust and dish, this is called fluting.
Bake the pie in the lower third of the oven, which helps bottom crust to finish baking. another tips is to cover the edges with foil or a crust protector so the edges won’t over brown.
Use only fresh ingredients. Make seasonally available fruit pies for best flavor. Cherries are in season during the month of June.
Pie Birds!
Spode Christmas Tree Pie Bird Use this on your double crust pies to prevent the juices from bubbling out . It helps you attain that crisp, tender crust that sets your pies apart from the rest. American Pie Council has lots of recipes to try.
Cherries Are Red
Beautiful Lattice Cherry Pie
Which make them the perfect fruit filling for a pie that celebrates Valentine’s Day. AND February is National Cherry Month.
What is Cherry Pie Day?
And Why?
When I was a kid Presidents Day was a big deal in school, and along with that was the day to learn about the first U.S. President, George Washington. What does this have to do with cherries? You must have heard the tale of George’s famous ( albeit legendary and maybe imagined ) confession, “I cannot tell a lie, I cut down the cherry tree”. And cherries were linked to George Washington Day in February (his actual birthday is February 11th by the Julian calendar), now called “President’s Day” and used to celebrate Abraham Lincoln and George Washington; and, well, all the presidents, really. Whew, how complicated! That is an example of what happens when the government gets involved with things, isn’t it?
Who Thought Up This Holiday?
Well, this is not about the debate over President’s Day or the telling of myths and legends, but of something that we can all agree upon… a great cherry pie is worth celebrating. The wonderful thing about this fruit filling is that it is a great way to make a delicious pie any time of the year- even in the tail end of winter, during February. If using tart pie cherries, there really isn’t much quality difference between canned and fresh, unlike many of the other fruits, like peach or apple. Cherry pies are fine tasting using cherries you have canned from the cherry season of June last year. Now there is a taste difference in pie fillings, so if you use canned cherries and not the syrupy canned pie filling, it will produce a much better pie.
Where did National Cherry Pie Day originate? No one seems to know. It must have originated somewhere. My guess is that an organization like the Pie Council that claims authorship of National Pie Day, or the National Cherry Growers Association or some similar marketing group, declared it and set the date to fall around the time President’s Day is celebrated. Organizations quite often lobby for their representative food to have a national day. Besides National Cherry Pie Day, there are days for Cherry Cobbler and Cherry popovers. And there is one for moldy cheese, too, but that is somewhat beside the point.
The point is that you have an excuse to bake a perfectly delectable cherry pie and eat it in celebration of the day!
Don’t just bake a pie… play some games, learn about cherries, make it a fun and different day of celebration.
A Game To Play On Cherry Pie Day
CHERRY PIE GAME
~by Kylan from Kansas -5th Grade Teacher
We play a game called Cherry Pie. You stand in a circle and give the first student a word. He or she gives the first letter of the word. You continue going around the circle each person giving one letter. If someone misses they sit down and are out for the game. If the word is spelled correctly the person after the one who said the last letter correctly says, “cherry pie” and they are out for the game. This continues until there is only one person standing. I keep the game moving quickly, and I do no repeats, if they stutter or don’t know where we are they are out. This keeps them listening to every word.
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Well, this is not about the debate over President’s Day or the telling of myths and legends, but of something that we can all agree upon… a great cherry pie is worth celebrating. The wonderful thing about this fruit filling is that it is a great way to make a delicious pie any time of the year- even in the tail end of winter, during February. If using tart pie cherries, there really isn’t much quality difference between canned and fresh, unlike many of the other fruits, like peach or apple. Cherry pies are fine tasting using cherries you have canned from the cherry season of June last year. Now there is a taste difference in pie fillings, so if you use canned cherries and not the syrupy canned pie filling, it will produce a much better pie.
Where did National Cherry Pie Day originate? No one seems to know. It must have originated somewhere. My guess is that an organization like the Pie Council that claims authorship of National Pie Day, or the National Cherry Growers Association or some similar marketing group, declared it and set the date to fall around the time President’s Day is celebrated. Organizations quite often lobby for their representative food to have a national day. Besides National Cherry Pie Day, there are days for Cherry Cobbler and Cherry popovers. And there is one for moldy cheese, too, but that is somewhat beside the point.
The point is that you have an excuse to bake a perfectly delectable cherry pie and eat it in celebration of the day!
Don’t just bake a pie… play some games, learn about cherries, make it a fun and different day of celebration. 
