Thanks to lucky circumstances, we’re swimming in a monster harvest of morello cherries at the moment, and there are at least three gallons still on the trees. Trouble is, for the last five or six years the harvest gods only gave us enough to preserve with rum in small jars and jealously guard until Christmas, or freeze to make Black Forest cake on one or two very special occasions, and I’ve plain forgotten what we used to do with them all if we ever had this much (except for cherry wine, which isn’t an option this year, and cherry compote, which regrettably belonged to Grandma’s repertoire, and I never got to ask her how she made it).
So if you have a good recipe with morello cherries (sour, sweet, savory, anything goes, and from any kind of culinary tradition), please post it here. I’ve pitted a gallon of 'em today, so a slight preference given to recipes where the pits can be left in or skimmed off.
Speaking of pitting cherries, and if anyone owns and uses a cherry pitter: Is it really any faster than a straightened paper clip or an old-fashioned hairpin?
Cherry pitter: oh yes. Buy one. You’ll be so glad you did. It really does cut the time you spend and will save you from getting calloused thumbs. (Or is that just me?!)
My best use for cherries (apart from pie): as a hot and sour sauce for duck. Basically sour cherries, garlic, ginger, chillies, black pepper, soy sauce. Goes really, really well with the fattiness of duck, and is also good with goose and belly of pork.
Get yourself a big jar. No, bigger than that. At least 1 gallon or larger. Fill the jar with alternating layers of clean cherries and sugar cubes. 2 inches of cherries, 1 layer of cubes. Repeat. Every other layer or so, sprinkle in a few cloves. Pack fairly close, but not solid. Fill jar with bar bourbon. Let set undisturbed for 6 months. The cherries go over ice cream, the bourbon gets sipped in cordial glasses.
You can also do this with quart jars if you want to give really neat Christmas presents this year.
Oh yes. Much faster. I saw one in the market recently (well, garlic press with cherry pitter in the handle), asked the price, tried to bargain the guy down cause I thought it was too expensive. He refused to bargain, and I succumbed to temptation.
This simple Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake made with Pillsbury crescent roll dough, sweetened cream cheese, and cherry pie filling looks quick and delicious. Of course you would have to prepare the cherries first by stewing them with some sugar, butter, perhaps some citrus (and maybe some cornstarch to thicken- Optional). You would have to let it cool before applying to the dough and cream cheese, of course, but it will be a hundred times better than any canned cherries, that’s for sure.
Thank you, I’ll have all of that, please. Will look after cherry pitters as soon as I’m in the Big City.
Since I had a new kitchen thermometre I wanted to play with, I made morello and blackcurrant jam with a dash of dark rum with the most recent batch. Bit too heavy on the currant, but OK.
I first became aware of Morello cherries in a cooking class I took from Pam Anderson (no, not *that *Pam Anderson). She made a cherry pie from Morello cherries and afterward she passed out the recipe. I don’t even like pie and this was just a revelation. The recipe is in her cookbook The Perfect Recipe. I can’t recommend it highly enough; like America’s Test Kitchen, she will try 25 different versions of the same recipe until she is satisfied. Try this pie.