The English cherry season is but a brief spell in summer, that peaks around mid July, so there's just a little time left to indulge in them.
Lately I've been pleasantly surprised to see British cherries in all the shops, especially as we're often overrun with foreign imports, it makes quite a change to see even the supermarkets displaying boxes proudly displaying the Union Jack flag label.
British cherries have been under threat of almost extinction due to various factors (which I detailed in an article I wrote for The Artisan Food Trail blog) so it is a good idea to take advantage of their seasonal abundance and exercise some patriotism, just to keep them thriving.
In the town, where I live, we are sadly lacking a decent proper market, but we do have a regular, almost daily, fruit and veg stall that 'lives' opposite a building society. It is a lonesome stall but the cheery lady running it, seems to do a fair amount of trade and the array of produce is always fresh and inviting. 'Fresh Local Cherries', says the sign wedged into the back of a box stuffed full of shiny red baubles. Well, how could I refuse? She scoops them up and drops them into a brown paper bag, and scrunches the top. That took me back to my childhood when I would eat them like sweets, straight from the bag.
Exercising more grownup restraint my fruity haul made it home intact, which is a good thing as I would have had some explaining to do.
Cherries are delicious just as they are, of course, but I like to try different things with food. I did make a clafoutis, which is a French dish consisting of a rich sweet batter with the cherries baked, suspended in the mixture. That did taste good, but no photo I'm afraid. My exacting standards on appearances meant it was not quite up to the mark.
A Quick and Tasty Summer Salad
I also put together a simple salad (which is pictured). Fruit and cheese are good partners, Think of cheddar and apple, stilton and pear or brie and grapes, so I made a fairly bold decision and set the cherries alongside some soft white goat's cheese, with a mixture of spinach, rocket and watercress leaves and a simple balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Hunks of walnut bread were all that was needed to squash the cheese on to and to mop up all the lovely juices.
