Normally my Friday e-mails run the gamut from simple nibble to something grilled to a good ole salad during any given month. But in June, I uncharacteristically sent out two cherry-centric recipes in the space of three weeks. But I defended my actions with the simple statement that cherries are my favorite fruit and, frankly, I can’t get enough of them right now (and, I’ve discovered now that Dad’s under the same roof, neither can my father).
I never was much of a fruit lover before I started eating seasonally. But now, forget it. I eat strawberries by the basket when they’re ripe from the fields, and a couple pints of cherries (rounded out by a good number of nectarines and peaches) a week when they’re at the farmers market. When “fruit” stops meaning a bag of apples you pick up at the supermarket whether it’s October or June, it starts to take on more depth … both in flavor and that amorphous emotional appeal.
First there’s the wait. The months and months of eating (and, yes, enjoying) the apples and pears, and then the oranges and grapefruit. Then there’s the anticipation. I still remember when, at three years old, Noemi clenched her fists and gave a little shiver of joy as she exclaimed “mommy, it’s almost strawberry season!” And that pretty much says it all; if you truly eat according to what’s in season, you get that excited about tasting your first strawberry come May. Then, there’s the headlong-rush-into-sucking-every-ounce-of-pleasure-you-can-from-these-sweet-fruits-of-the-season-before-they-go-away-again-in-just-a-few-weeks stage.
Which is where I am now. Hence, the reason for gorging on as many cherries as I can muster.
So go get yourself some cherries and ENJOY!