The growing season for cherries, June through August, is short– all the more reason to grab them while they’re in peak form. Here are a few hints for finding and buying the best of this favorite summer fruit.
*Cherries come in sweet and sour varieties. Sweet ones are the most widely available and are scrumptious eaten raw. Sour cherries are harder to find, but their tart, tangy flavor is great stewed or baked into pies.
*Cherries don’t ripen after they’re picked, so if you can, try one or two at the market before committing to buying a big bag. If that’s not an option, simply buy the biggest, reddest fruits you can find. Any intact stems should be green, not black.
*A cherry pitter is a handy tool if you cook or bake with cherries. If you don’t have one, remove the cherry stem and push a metal pastry tip into the core. The pit will pop out the other side. With or without a pitter, it can be a messy process, so be sure to wear an apron.
Quick tip: Store cherries in the coldest part of your refrigerator in a plastic bag for up to 10 days.
Tell us, do you like cherries? What are some of the ways you cook or bake with them?
love, love, love cherries…don’t bake with fresh cherries because they are not available year round and I want to eat them raw when I can get them. They help with arthritic pain and I can tell a big difference in my pain level when I eat them daily. Told my husband I want him to plant a cherry tree in our back yard….now that would be wonderful!
wow.this is my first time to eat fresh cherries.i had them inside a jar or preserved. i love cherries as well as my husband. we always buy at sprout. they have the cheapest but good quality in our area.