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