sweet and sour

The cherries seem to have arrived a bit early this year. I always associate them with the Fourth of July not June!. We had a sour cherry tree in our backyard when I was growing up, so sour cherry jam made it into out winter pantry year after year. July marked the time of the year when our fingers would prune from pitting pounds of luscious red sour cherries. It was always a race to pick them before the birds ate every last one but don’t' worry, we left plenty for our feathered friends!

I was surprised to see cherries at the market this past Sunday. Maggie from Flying Fox was at The New Amsterdam Market with a gorgeous assortment of varieties both sweet and sour!  She was selling;

Summit, Chinook, Emperor Francis, Benton. Chorne  Višnja (Russian sour),  Sweetheart,  Montmorency ( sour), Tientou, Hartland and  Royalton.

She had a few quarts of tiny black sour Russian cherries, which are incredibly rare.  I am dreaming up all kinds of things to cook up with my bounty but for now, I just wanted to share these photos to inspire you to run out to the greenmarket yourself! Don't miss out on this short season!

Sour cherry jam and other recipes to come later this week! xx

 

 

flying fox and sour cherries

I stayed in the city this weekend under the premise of mounds of work.  For the most part  I have been sticking to a rigorous schedule. I did however, let my dear friend Marcia pull me away to the New Amsterdam Market for an hour or so today. We met at 11am sharp in front of Pasanella and Sons, just as the market had opened. I told her we had better make bee line to see Maggie Nesciur at Flying Fox to get some cherries before they were sadly gone. Last time I was the market I showed up too late and all of Maggie's fruit was sold out! She is tucked away in the farthest Northwestern corner of the market. Today, we had no problem as we were early. We did scoop up the last three pints of the most beautiful little strawberries that Maggie had lovingly harvested on a small farm  in Upstate New York. It seemed she was a little meloncholy to see them go as they are the last of the strawberries she will pick this year.  Maggie harvests only by hand, small batch seasonal organic local fruits and berries, and ONLY from small farms. She picks everything by hand and runs a solo operation supplying a few small resturants and now doing the NAM market once a week.

Talk about hard work and dedication. Though it may be an Urban farming myth, I have heard that she even slept in a strawberry field overnight just to be able to give the berries a bit more sun in the morning, before gathering them and heading back to the city. I am kind of fascinated by her.

Maggie began harvesting seasonal tree ripened fruits and berries from small farms in the Northeast region in 2006. She is dedicated to building and maintaing a community through sustainable farming in New York city.

In addition to the strawberries I picked up some some local blackberries and some Hudson Valley sour cherries that I plan on making into jam later tonight.

 MAGGIE"S FRUIT CALENDAR 

JUNE

strawberries

rasberries ( red, yellow, black)

cherries (sweet+sour)

JULY

currants (red, black, white)

blackberries

rasberries

blueberries

gooseberries (green and red)

apricots

sugar plums

nectarines

peaches (yellow, white, donut)

AUGUST

melons

watermelons

blackberries

raspberries (red, yellow)

apricots

sugar plums

nectarines

peaches (yellow, donut)

September +

grapes

pears

cranberries

beach plums

figs

elderberries

raspberries (red , yellow)

pawpaws

apples

peaches (yellow)

CONTACT

Maggie Nesciur

FRUITERER

917-637-9143

maggienes@gmail.com

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved