cherries, cherries, cherries.

[JIMMY2EGGS]

Hi everybody,

I'm Jimmy and I live in one of those new estates. The ones they normally build on all that lovely countryside we like to play in!
We seem to have a lot of cherrie trees about, some are quite sour and some are sweet. They are just coming into harvest round here and have made a couple of pies with them.....well not me but my nieghbour!

I don't know much about cherries but someone told me they could just be decorative and not really suitable to eat. They tasted could tho. I have a few questions.

Can you eat these cherries.

Can you blend the two types together

Do you know of any good recipes in which I could preserve them, like in jams etc. We do have quite alot around here!

Thanks for your time, I look forward to reading your ideas

Cheers Jimmy.

 

[Toddy]

They're edible
Even the bird cherry which is tiny and not very good to eat.

We lost my next door neighbours daughter years ago. Half the village was out looking for this little seven year old. Finally she was found up a cherry tree on the way to the school, sticky as the stickiest kid you've ever seen and plum coloured
Apparantly she'd walked to school on the wrong side of the road one day and looked up, the cherries had been tempting her for a week and she finally gave in. Until then no one here knew those beautiful flowering cherries actually produced good fruits.

Cherries cook well in pies and the like, loads of American recipes on line. I confess they're a seasonal treat for me and I love them fresh I'm not fond of them cooked or in yoghurty things.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

I have noticed the cherries are about to come around here. Mostly they are prunus avium and p. serotina and the various mixes or the two. Sorry to use the latin but there is a lot types of cherry and they have a lot of common names, some aren't that edible either, but the gean (avium) and black (serotina) are alright but some varieties need preping first. The bird cherry (p.padus) I have isn't in fruit yet, they are a bit dodgy, they are small and taste bitter as hell. The toxic cherry laural is a way off fruiting, the leaves look like rhodidendron and not like other cherries.

Basically id what you are going eat and remove the stones.

I like making black cherry in syrup. stone and soak in the same weight in sugar for a day, heat then jar. the same can be done gean.

 

[Whittler Kev]

Everywhere round here too. Peterborough A47 route and where it splits to the Sleford road seem to be just one long row of them.
Outside our house the tree never fruited (20 uyears it's been there) until I planted one in the garden last year but thery're very bitter where as mines real sweet (well the three the birds left me were!).
Starnge thing is that there appears to be rows of them at Peterborough that no one picks except the birds. There appears to be odd trees they leave though, which are full of red berries and the ones beside them are picked clean (except for the stones of course)

 

[Melonfish]

we have 4 patches of cherry tree's in our street (its also lined with rowan) and we get some cherries every year, they make a right mess of your shoes and the birds drop the stones all over the shop but they aint half tasty.
i'm planning on making some cherry jam this year, also some blackberry hope they turn out ok.
we've got one tree thats about ready and the others are just turning that lovely dark colour that stops light escaping their surface

 

[Muddypaws]

Try making home made cherry brandy - put cherries in a preserving jar, add sugar (not sure how much, depends on how sweet you like your liqueurs), then pour brandy over them to cover. Seal the jar, leave for a few months (shake the jar periodically). Then strain and bottle. Don't forget to eat the alcohol infused cherries!
If brandy is not your tipple of choice then you could use vodka or gin.

 

[Melonfish]

do you need to de-stone the cherries before hand or are they ok to be left in? cherry brandy is amazing stuff!

 

[Muddypaws]

Melonfish - You don't have to de stone first, it's just like sloe gin making (both are prunus species after all). It might help to ***** the cherries first though.

 

[jonnie drake]

great stuff guys. Got a load of cherry trees near me picked a couple and ate them fresh very nice cheery pie sounds great but cherry brandy sounds even better (would it work well with rum???)

 

[Everything Mac]

Just in from picking a load from the tree in my back garden. - they are lovely.

Will be making a pie shortly - then maybe some cherry brandy too

 

[JIMMY2EGGS]

A big thank you for all the ideas. I'm going out again at the weekend to pick lots more. Maybe some cherrie vodka and lots of pies!

 

[dwardo]

The cherries this year are just lovely. They seem to be sweeter some years more than others and not always the same tree ??
Up this way they are dark red/maroon and are the sweetest in years. I hope to get a haul in for the neighbour to make jam, just hope i get the time and dont miss them again.

 

[Toddy]

I'm fond of fruit anyway, but I really love it in season
Hand ups, I admit it, I have gorged on cherries this afternoon. Absolutely gloriously sweet, deep maroon coloured and juicy
Don't feel much like dinner any time soon though

cheers,
M

 

[DaveBromley]

Me and nipper picked a shed load last week (not litterally) and made several cherry pies after everyone in the family had a slice there was just enough left for me, SWMBO and the nipper! Was delish!! My only sore point was the ammount of work (and mess) that destoning with just hands was any idea of any easier ways? can you stew then sieve or somehing like that?

 

[Toddy]

You can actually buy a gadget that does it for you. It's a bit like an olive stoner.

The stones will float if you boil the fruits long enough (like damsons) but they're a pain to find every one in a pot of simmering cherries and juice.

You can do a batch using the tube from the outside of a pen. I literally push it through the cherry from the stem end removing the stone on the way. Do it over a bowl, it's incredibly messy and rubber gloves are a very good idea or you'll have stained hands and nails for days.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Ruvio]

Just wandered to the end of our road to scoff some cherries...already beaten to it by a group of about..10 poles, drinking, having a right laugh.
Excellent to see!

 

[Kerne]

Seems a good year for cherries, I have a dwarf cherry in my garden and we even managed to beat the birds to the fruit this year.

 

[Ruvio]

God bless ornamental cherry trees. A company near us seems to have inadvertently planted huge black cherries

 

[Toddy]

Lucky man

Cherries dry well too. Split them in half and remove stones first.

They make a lovely munchie, but they're also excellent used in recipes just like raisins

cheers,
M

 

[Ruvio]

Ohh Thanks Tod. I'll do just that
since theres half a dozen trees full. If anyones near bourne in lincs, i'd be happy to point out where