A bowl of cherries
We’re barreling down on July Fourth and that can only mean one thing—cherry season. As a farmer and a preservationist the arrival of stone fruits also means canning season. Cherries, peaches, plums, and apricots when I can get them as they are the most finicky fruit in our region, all get put up one way or another so I’ll have fruit for my morning yogurt or afternoon kefir come winter.
My people are from Adams County, Pennsylvania, home to some of the finest orchards in America. I grew up going to Uncle Ollie and Aunt Betty’s to pick fruit every summer, cherries being my favorite. Sweet cherries, sour cherries—it doesn’t matter.
It was the fruit I missed the most while living in southern California despite being surround by an enormous variety of citrus and semi-tropicals. There was even an heirloom banana plantation on narrow strip of land between the cliffs and ocean beside the 101 freeway south of Santa Barbara that had its own microclimate perfect for tropical fruits. The people that farmed that ground were staples at the local farmers markets until the landowner decided to build luxury oceanfront homes. Farming loses out to development every single time.
Change happens. We’ve seen it in the last week at our market in Bethesda and in our nation. It may not be what we want, but ultimately, we have to deal with it. A new location also meant new customers and as always, that means answering lots of questions. The one that stuck out the most this week, however, was a patron looking for pitted cherries.
When I told them they won’t find them at the market, maybe this winter if the harvests were abundant enough to send to a co-packer, they’d show up in cans or jars.
“But I want them fresh today,” they countered.
“Well, then get yourself a stoner and pit them yourself,” I said trying not to be flippant. Maybe they could pick up one from Target on their way home from the market. The look on their face was as if I had asked them to clean out a porta-pottie after a music festival and they walked away before I explain there are several types of stoners.
Given my love for cherries, I own two styles of German-made stoners. There’s the aluminum one which also pits olives. I’m pretty certain I bought it back when there were two olive trees in my front yard. It’s time consuming to use for lots of fruit and spits juice all over the place, but its been put through 25 years of hard labor and still works. Then there’s the plastic one with the feeding tray, stone catcher and feeder trough with a spring-loaded presser. It needs to be disassembled and cleaned each time it’s used so I only haul it out when I have more than one quart to stone. Made all from plastic except for the plunger and spring, the contraption is starting to brittle with age. I was my Dad’s so I go gentle on it. Maybe this year I’ll splurge for an aluminum that boasts the ability to do 33 pounds of cherries per hour with optimum splash protection.
Had they the courtesy and patience, I would have explained how easily cherries can be pitted and once stone-free, can be stored for months in the fridge if you submerge them in your favorite alcohol. For boozeless storage, toss them in an airtight container and pop them in the freezer. And if you invest in a nice automatic stoner, it’s well worth the effort to get out the canning equipment and put up several jars to ensure your stash for the coming year.