Halfway Over the Hill #2 (Cherries 1)
(Reading time - 2 book pages of text ~ 900 words)
Cherry Glut, Cherry Smut and Cherry Gut
Part 1 - Cherry Found
13 June 2021
Can you get sick of cherry breakfasts under the cherry trees - from branch to mouth? Apparently so.You can have one figurative bowl too many. It seems a pity, however, to leave them in this succulent state to the birds who have plenty else to eat.
Nature obviously intended cherries to be picked when they're perfectly ripe. With minimal pressure those pearls of delight slip off the stems into your hand like a gift received and the spat out seeds holds the promise of germination in the vicinity of the mother tree. Human and tree mutually benefit from the giving and taking.
When they're overripe and beginning to ferment, they come off with a barely a touch but unlike the ripe ones the seed too is left behind on the tree.
The tree seems reluctant, however, to give up its stems; it's a fiddly chore but cherries with stems are best for conservation. That is probably why they cost a lot.
If you have the patience, it's best to pluck off the stems one by one even if they're in a cluster of five or more so as not to flay the poor tree and not to lose a cherry or two. I don't understand the pair of cherries cliché - I didn't find it easier to get them off that way.
I was consternated when upon asking a local to help me get to the first ripe cherries from my main home tree, he just ripped off the metre-long branch and handed it to me! Ouch! Oik!
Cherry-picking is made even more difficult by: ladder vertigo; an eager dog that gets in the way; the dazzle of sun in your eyes; and the tangle of leafy branches - so it can be a frustrating process if you are in a hurry. And then there is the risk of the fall down the steep, brambly verge.
Cherry trees are everywhere here, burgeoning with fruit. Some people have left ladders propped up on their favourite binge tree. Others, dried canes pierced through at the tip by a long nail and hung on a branch; when you feel like some cherries, you pull a branch down with the nail end of the cane. A hardened twig growing out of the side of the cane can also serve as a hook. The curved handle of a long umbrella worked well for cherry breaks by roadside cherry trees when walking my dog.
It's surprising how bendy the branches are. Once you've got one bent, sit down, grip it between your knees and munch away. I've witnessed that too.
I was told that it's normal for 50 to 60% of land produce to go to waste, with cherries it's much higher, as much as 95%.
It's tradition to eat cherries in company under the trees but was warned about their overly-fibrous effect on your intestines, and also that sweet-smelling urine was a sure sign you had overdone it. Tick that box!
It's tradition to eat cherries in company under the trees but was warned about their overly-fibrous effect on your intestines, and also that sweet-smelling urine was a sure sign you had overdone it. Tick that box!
For company, I had my dog. He's got a nose for free food. Not only will he swallow cherries whole on the ground but will jump up and tear them off the lower branches. The poisonous pips are a worry but I think they just pop out intact in his poo. Occasionally, he will chomp on discarded seeds and that is a huge concern.
He has even eaten the stems but cherry stem tisane has numerous health benefits - as many as the fresh cherry itself. Cherry leaf also has its uses as a dye fixative. And the gum from the bark can be used as chewing gum but I don't fancy trying that.
To distract my dog from going for his own finds, I pit the stemless cherries for him by digging out the pips with my fingers and it's a messy process, I get showered with the juice - eating for myself, I spit them out - but however much he eats from my hand, my dog will seek his own. At least he doesn't eat the leaves; that would trigger cyanide release in the pips.
Edit: My dog did have a day of unusual listlessness and lack of appetite but then recovered completely.
A bit about my cherry history: I never used to eat them.
I was only familiar with those plastic-looking, plastic-tasting glacé ones on top of fairy cakes.
So I can only manage about 40 fresh cherries a day even if they are delicious. I can't eat hundreds like they do here.
To distract my dog from going for his own finds, I pit the stemless cherries for him by digging out the pips with my fingers and it's a messy process, I get showered with the juice - eating for myself, I spit them out - but however much he eats from my hand, my dog will seek his own. At least he doesn't eat the leaves; that would trigger cyanide release in the pips.
Edit: My dog did have a day of unusual listlessness and lack of appetite but then recovered completely.
A bit about my cherry history: I never used to eat them.
I was only familiar with those plastic-looking, plastic-tasting glacé ones on top of fairy cakes.
So I can only manage about 40 fresh cherries a day even if they are delicious. I can't eat hundreds like they do here.
For numerous reasons, I didn't pay attention to my cherries last June and when I told my gardener to cross the now cleared undergrowth he said they had dried out.
And the numerous saplings that were tiny when I first got here have produced a considerable yield of fruit too, for the first time, I think.
Other people's cherries can sometmes have tiny insect holes. Not one like that with mine! They aren't huge like my boastful neighbour's but they're just as sweet. I've seen someone tie different colour plastic shopping carrier bags to a tree and thought it was purely decorative! The rustling and colour deters avarian cherry eaters, apparently. There are also balloons with big luminous eyes that act as scarecrows.
Other people's cherries can sometmes have tiny insect holes. Not one like that with mine! They aren't huge like my boastful neighbour's but they're just as sweet. I've seen someone tie different colour plastic shopping carrier bags to a tree and thought it was purely decorative! The rustling and colour deters avarian cherry eaters, apparently. There are also balloons with big luminous eyes that act as scarecrows.
Once you have got the cherries in your fridge, the possibilities are endless, cherry jam, cherry cake, cherry biscuits.
The indulgence becomes too much but I know I'll miss them when they're gone. Just looking at the bright red rubies against the blue sky is a pleasure. In fact, at each stage of redness the sky changes its hue of blue to provide better contrast, or, at least, that is the impression I get: nature is determined to delight.
Before I go, here is a tip for popping your cherry pip without spurting juice everywhere and getting sticky fingers - it works like a dream.
Before I go, here is a tip for popping your cherry pip without spurting juice everywhere and getting sticky fingers - it works like a dream.
Grip the stem firmly, give the cherry an encouraging squeeze so the pip gets going, and simultaneously, pull out the stem quickly. With this withdrawal method the explosive juice remains in the pulpy canal formed by the exiting pip. Suck off any residual discharge on the pip and toss.
A word about cherry stains on clothing. They will come off after 10 washes.
Cherrio!
S
S
Don't forget Part 2 - Cherry Lost
Do: A bottle of cherry jam (local recipe)
Half a kilo of stoned fresh cherries
Approx. 125g sugar
Approx. 125g sugar
Throw all in a saucepan. Boil. Stir and mash.
It doesn't require close attention on a low simmer.
Give it a peek, stir and scrape every five minutes.
When it is thick enough to not run off quickly down a slanted cold plate, it's ready - about half an hour.
Make sure you have your clean, oven-heated jar at hand. Ladle in the piping hot jam promptly, avoiding spillages round the rim. A funnel with a wide opening helps. Screw on the lid fairly tightly (maybe use a glove to hold the jar) and turn the jar upside down and leave it.
Next morning, you can put it away.
If you have doubts about it keeping (large air gap etc); stick it in the freezer. Either way, it's good for more than a year. Once opened, keep in the fridge until your nose and eyes tell you otherwise.
Note: You can use an old jam jar as long as the lid is ok.
Note: You can use an old jam jar as long as the lid is ok.
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