Farmer's Market -- 30 June 2018 (Artichoke Day, 12th of Harvest, Year 226)

[neotoma]

Kkakdugi, cider masala beets, red-and-butter pickles, NY strip steak, cheese curds, Mocha Moo, portokalopita, tiropita, citrus olive oil cake, melitzanosalata, cherry almond tart, snap peas, garlic scapes, yellow sweet cherries, pie cherries, black raspberries (oh nom nom nom!), blueberries, apricots (oh nom nom nom!), maple breakfast sausage, and bacon.

There was an audit at work the last two days, so while I had been intending to go to the Families Belong Together protest, I was just too exhausted. In fact, I came home from the market and promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours.

I'm planning on making a pie for 4th of July -- let's hope I have enough energy Tuesday night to pit all those cherries, or it's going to be a mess.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

What's the difference between regular cherries and pie cherries? Cherry pie isn't a thing here, so I'm very interested!

Cherries

[neotoma]

Regular cherries are sweet cherries. Pie cherries are varieties that are naturally tart -- they're also called 'tart cherries' or 'sour cherries', and are great for making pies and jams.

Montmorency and Morello are two well-known varieties of pie cherries.

You wouldn't want to eat them out of hand, as texasgrandma can tell you. A few years ago, she, my brother, and my nephew each stole a cherry from the bowl as I was pitting a a quart of cherries for a pie, and made faces at me; I warned each of them "those are pie cherries!" as they took one, but since none of them saw the others do it, they each had to learn for themselves not to steal cherries from a pie-maker.

Pie cherries have a shorter season than sweet cherries and are much more delicate than sweet cherries, so they don't travel that well. I've used them to make pies and tart cherry jam (which didn't set well, but considering I added cardamom to it, it's fantastic over ice cream, yogurt, or cheesecake.

There are also black cherries which I have only seen for sale at the farmer's market a couple of times and snap up any time I see them, just like black raspberries.

North America is a continent full of berries, and they're almost all delicious.

Re: Cherries

[lilacsigil]

Thank you! We really only have the one kind here, so it's fascinating to hear of all the different uses for the different kinds!

Re: Cherries

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Maybe it's because I'm from so far north but no cherries are 'regular'; they are sweet aka store bought or sour. I'm pretty sure the tree my grandma had was pie cherries- I think those might be harvestable without bird nets. (On the birds get everything above the ladder and armreach plan)