On 4 July 2015 Mike and I drove through the rain to Pepe and Maria's Lake House in Farmington, NH, which is close to Rochester. When we got to Rochester, we dashed through the rain to Hannaford's, the local super market, where we got our supplies. It turned out that Bing cherries were on sale for $1.99/pound, the best price I had seen so far this year, so I stocked up with 6.4 pounds, which set me back $12.83.
Travel Tip
Here are the steps. Your guests should carry out these tasks collaboratively while you supervise.
PIcking Cherries
At 10:00 a.m. on July 5, it took Mike and me about ten minutes to drive to Butternut Farm, Giff and Mae Burnap, proprietors. If it had been flowering rather than fruiting season for cherries, we would have seen the scene below, which comes from the home page of the farm's website.
The deal that this farm offered was that I would pick the cherries and then pay $4.99/pound. There were two advantages of paying this high price rather than the $1.99 at Hannaford's. First, I would get to see what the cherries tasted like just-off-the-tree. Second, they offered a number of different cultivars, so I could try some new varieties of cherries. My strategy was to get just enough of each cultivar for a multi-person taste test; I would not depend on this place for bulk since I got that from my cheap Hannaford's cherries. All of the sweet cherry cultivars are varieties of the species Prunus avium, which is in the rose family and is in the same genus as the other stone fruits such as peach, plum, apricot (1 Feb 2015), and almond.
There were rows of trees, which were about 10-12 feet tall. This means that many of the cherries were within easy reach, and there were ladders for getting to the higher ones. The first picture below shows how they roped off trees that they didn't want us to pick from and used a sign to guide us to the target trees. (The sign is somewhat obscured; it says "Pick Here", not "Rick Here.") The second picture gives an idea of what a tree that is bearing cherries looks like. I was not the first picker, and I could see where cherries had been plucked, but there were still lots of cherries. In fact, that there was enough low-hanging fruit that I did not need to use a ladder. (What appears to be a pair of cables behind the trees are supports that hold netting that keeps birds from raiding the trees.)
I started by picking some Black Golds, a cultivar that is new to me. This seems like a poor name since to a Texan "black gold" is a nickname for oil. A better nickname would be "Maroon Gold." I then picked a few Rainiers. I didn't get many since, as I reported in the e-mail of 3 July 2015, I apparently don't care much for these. I needed to give them a fair chance, however, and see how they tasted right off the tree. I moved down the row a bit and picked some Reginas, another new cultivar, and then some more Black Golds. I realized that the Black Golds I picked at the beginning were not yet ripe. Finally, I picked some Bentons, which were also new to me. These dark red cherries were handsome, and hard to resist. The first picture below shows me holding my container of picked cherries (you can see the protective netting in the background), and the second is a close up of my harvest. (These two photos were taken by Mike.)
I found that cherries are like blueberries in that when you tug on one, it comes loose only if it is ripe. Later, I found that "fruit removal force" is a more reliable signal of maturity than traditional indicators such as color or soluble solids content.
Recall from the e-mail of 3 July 2015 that a cherry will crack if it rains at harvest time. We have recently had rain in New England; for example, as pointed out above, it rained on the day before I picked. Sure enough, there was widespread cracking; I estimate that more than half of the cherries on the trees had cracks of varying sizes. The farm pooh-poohed these cracks by posting a sign: "Sometimes cherries crack when they get rained on close to harvest. Simply a water management issue they have ... They are safe to eat." (Emphasis in original. Actually, this sign was written in white chalk, and the italicized passage was in yellow chalk.) My view is that if cherries are grown in New England, they will get rained on, so having cracks is the price you pay for being able to get fresh cherries. Alternatively, if uncracked cherries are to be successfully grown in New England, they must be grown inside a retractable dome. A picture of a cherry with a big crack is below. Since my picture didn't turn out too well, I include a picture of cracked cherries from the Internet.
This sign went on to say in another paragraph: "Thanks for keeping sampling under control." This refers to pickers eating some of what they pick before they have paid for it. This is normal practice, and the sign asks pickers not to abuse this privilege. Here's what I did. Keeping in mind that the farm is getting the stratospheric price of $4.99/pound and that they are getting this for cherries with cracks that could not be sold in stores, I tried to avoid picking cherries with big cracks, but I ended up with some, and I ate the cherries that had egregiously large cracks. In other words, if it was an eyesore, I ate it. I thought this was fair. I virtually never eat breakfast, and I did not eat before going picking, so my sampling meant that I had cherries for breakfast. This new and pleasurable experience has caused the concept of breakfast to rise in my estimation. (I have, however, had cherry pie for breakfast; to me this is the breakfast of champions. I often fantasize about pie for breakfast. This is probably because breakfast is exotic to me since I so seldom experience it,)
I had been wondering about grafting and pollination. (For grafting terminology, see the e-mail of 1 Feb 2015.) Right after I finished picking, I was fortunate to run into Giff, the proprietor, and I conducted my first Fruit Explorer interview. He said that when they wanted to plant new trees, they bought them from a nursery when they were about five feet tall. He preferred as rootstock either the Gisela #6 or #12, (Gisela is pronounced GHEE-zuhl, where the "a" is silent, or at least that is how it sounded when Giff pronounced it, and I did ask him to repeat it. This rootstock was developed as a collaboration of Gisela, Inc., with four universities (see logos below), including Oregon State University, where Dave Robinson teaches; though Dave is in the English Department, he brags that Oregon State has a better horticulture department than Harvard. In fact, Oregon State is a leader in cherry science; see the handbook below. I bet Butternut Farm is all over these Oregon State publications.) The scion of the desired cultivar is grafted onto this rootstock by the nursery.
Giff said that for pollination they depend mainly on the local bees, but they do hire some hives from a local beekeeper. He confirmed what I had read about pollination of cherries. A sweet cherry must be cross-pollinated by another cultivar, called a pollinizer. For example, a Bing cherry must receive pollen not from a Bing tree but from some other cultivar, e.g., a Black Gold or a Benton. A pie cherry can be pollinated by any pie cherry tree, including itself since, unlike the sweet cherries, it is self-compatible. Finally, Giff lists The Hunger Games as one of his favorite books.
As I walked to the cashier, I passed an orchard of young cherry trees that were not yet producing. It appears that Butternut Farm is investing heavily in cherry trees. The first picture looks down a row, and the second looks diagonally across the orchard. In light of the heavy cracking of the cherries due to New England rain, I wonder whether cherries are the best fruit to invest in. The Butternut Farm website takes the optimistic view and says of its cherry picking, "This is an unusual opportunity, since most farms have a hard time offering such a delicate fruit for pick your own." It is true that cherries are delicate in the sense that they crack when rained on. Cherries were introduced to this farm by the current proprietors, who took over in 2005.
In addition to the sweet cherries that I picked, pie (tart) cherries are also grown. The sign below says that picking is expected to begin on July 16 for the Jubileum cultivar and on August 1 for the Balatan cultivar. Mike immediately started a drumbeat of propaganda about coming back to pick pie cherries so I could make a cherry pie. The year 2012 on the sign presumably refers to the year the tree was planted. Since the trees were several years old when planted, this means that they are just coming into production. I do not expect a bumper crop this year. All of the pie cherry cultivars are varieties of the species Prunus cerasus.
When I got to the cashier, I found that even though I had been careful to rein in my natural urge to pick with abandon, I had still picked 1.8 pounds. Therefore, at $4.99/pound, the Fruit Explorer had racked up a cherry bill of $8.98. Combining this with what I spent at Hannaford's, I see that it is a good thing that cherry season is so short, or the expense would be ruinous.
Driving back from Buttternut Farm, we saw a hay farm for sale.
Mike: Why don't you buy it?
Rick: Too much work.
Mike: Make it a U-Pick'em hay farm.
Tasting Cherries
Back at the Lake House, I set up a tasting session, which took place about 2.5 hours after the cherries were picked. (This lag occurred since we took time for lunch.) The first picture below shows the five choices set up on the table in the screened-in porch. The five choices represented four cultivars, with two versions of one of the cultivars. The second picture is a close-up of the five choices (from left to right and top to bottom):
- Rainier.
- Benton
- Black Gold (unripe)
- Regina
- Black Gold (ripe)
The next five pictures show a close-up of each choice.
We started by making a video, which you can find here (or, temporarily, here). Then Jose, Josh, Mike, and I dug in. One generalization, as Mike stated it, was that the cherries fresh off the tree were juicier and softer than store-bought cherries; he speculated that that must have something to do with when the store-bought cherries are picked and how they are shipped. (I later learned that this speculation is correct; commercial sweet cherries are harvested at the firm-mature stage to prevent bruising.) Another generalization is that the tastes of the four testers varied greatly. The Regina was Jose's favorite; he termed its flavor smooth and complex, while Josh called it dull and average. Josh's favorite was the Back Gold (unripe); in his view, it didn't taste unripe but rather had a mild sweetness with a peach flavor. Jose commented that the ripe Black Golds were more complex that the unripe. Mike pronounced the Rainiers to be sweet-and-sour and juicy. I thought the Rainiers, with their peach flavor, tasted just like the Rainiers that I bought at Stop&Shop and reported on in the e-mail of 3 Jul 2015. I liked the Benton's the most; this was the darkest cherry. A last generalization is that the darker the cherry, the more "cherry-like" and complex it tasted; for those who dote on cherries, the darker the better, and for those who are lukewarm on cherries, the lighter the better. The picture below shows the cherry display, originally 1.8 pounds, when we had finished our tasting, which had been conducted right after lunch. And, remember, one of the tasters had a stapled stomach and another had previously claimed to not care much for cherries (though this claim is now being reconsidered).
This taste test confirmed the Fruit Explorer in his determination to keep the discussion of flavor in these e-mails to a minimum, as first discussed in the e-mail on vanilla of 22 May 2015. Tastes differ so much among people that you need to form your opinions not from reading the opinions of others but from tasting fruits yourself.
The Fruit Explorer Nods
Fruit Explorer confession: After the taste test was over, I remembered that I had six pounds of Bing cherries in the fridge. By including them in the taste test I could not only have added another cultivar but also given us a chance to compare fresh-off-the-tree to store-bought. I was kicking myself for missing such an obvious enhancement to the taste test.
Life is a Bowl of Cherries
In those happy intervals when life is like a bowl of cherries, perhaps your state of mind is represented by the picture below, which I consider to be one serving of cherries. (These are the cherries from Hannaford's; note that every cherry is perfect with no cracks.)
George Washington and Cherries
My take on the story of George Washington cutting down a cherry tree has changed over time. When I was a child, everyone else focused on the "I cannot tell a lie" part of this story, whereas I focused on the fact that he cut down a cherry tree. That was an act of juvenile delinquency beyond my imagining. While everyone else went into transports over the spotless character of the Father of Our Country, I considered him a rat. Later, as an adult I learned that the story was made up, apparently by Parson Weems, an early biographer. Consequently, everyone else looked down their nose at Weems as an unreliable biographer. In contrast, I had a fellow-feeling for him since the worst crime he could think of was cutting down a cherry tree.
How Many Calories Are in a Cherry?
Using the fact that 100 grams of cherry contain 80 calories, I weighed a batch of cherries, ate them, subtracted the weight of the pits, and calculated that the average number of calories for one of my dark, sweet cherries from Hannaford's is 7 calories. (I can perform calculations like this because I have the kitchen scale that I praised in the e-mail of 1 May 2015.) This means that if I spend 35 minutes on an elliptical machine, which I typically do three times each week, and burn 322 calories, this energy is supplied by eating 46 cherries, which is about the size of my usual midnight snack while watching "Perry Mason." Perhaps I should consider this to be my breakfast.
Cherry Pit Art
Travel Tip
To experience the full range of the cherry lifestyle, attend the International Cherry Pit-spitting Competition held every year in Eau Claire, MI. For a description of the 42nd annual contest, which was just held on 4 July 2015, go to the official site. Begin preparations to attend the 43rd annual competition on 2 Jul 2016. By the way, all cherry spitters are amateurs, though there is some hope that a professional circuit can be formed. Cherry pits are well adapted for a spitting contest because they are extraordinarily slippery. Just try to pick one up that you have dropped on the floor.
Gift Idea
Take advantage of the heat-retaining property of cherry pits by giving a cherry pit warming/chilling pillow to someone who needs a natural way to achieve relaxation. Go to this site for hints on how to make one yourself, or you can buy one at Amazon. Capitalism provides you with a wide variety of cherry pit pillows to choose from.
Party Tip
The marasca cherry is a cultivar of Croatian origin, and it is made into a liqueur called maraschino. A cherry that is preserved in this liqueur is a true maraschino cherry. According to local custom, this was the way that cherries were traditionally preserved in Dalmatia; this was how they compensated for the short cherry season. In the 19th century this delicacy became known throughout Europe, but the supply was so small that maraschino cherries were very expensive and were reserved for royalty and the wealthy. Modern industry, using chemicals such as sulfur dioxide, calcium chloride, and red dye #40, produces a "maraschino cherry" that has virtually nothing to do with the real thing. Most people have no idea what the real thing tastes like. (This paragraph is based on Wikipedia, except for the last sentence.)
Your party tip is allow your guests to create real maraschino cherries. Use this recipe, which you can scale as necessary. Needed ingredients are:
- One pound of sweet cherries. While it would be nice to use marasca cherries, these are hard to get (not sold by Amazon), so Bing or any other sweet cherry cultivar can be substituted. Do not use a pie cherry.
- 3/4 cup of sugar.
- 1/4 cup of water,.
- Half of a vanilla bean left over from the party where your guests made vanilla extract (22 May 2015). Split the pod lengthwise, scrape out the interior of the pod, but keep both the pod and its contents.
- One cup of maraschino liqueur. You can use any maraschino liqueur (see pictures below of leading brands), but the recipe recommends Luxardo, which appears to be the Cadillac of maraschino liqueurs. As a site that seeks to educate home bartenders puts it, "Luxardo Maraschino is a true classic and is one of the most important bottles to purchase if you're trying to complete your collection at home." The straw wrapping was originally designed to protect the bottle during shipping. This company was founded in Dalmatia in 1817 and moved to Italy in 1913. (Recall that in the e-mail of 1 Feb 2015 you saw a picture of a Luxardo apricot liqueur.)
- Remove and discard the stems from the cherries.
- Remove the pits from the cherries. See the e-mail of 3 Jul 2015 for hints on pitting techniques.
- Put the pits into a resealable plastic bag, cover with a towel, and smash the pits with a mallet or bottom of a frying pan.
- Put the water, sugar, smashed pits, and the vanilla bean (both the split pod and its contents) into a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir occasionally. When it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature, which takes about 40 minutes. Take advantage of this enforced wait by giving a slide show on different cherry cultivars and how to pollinate them.
- Pour the cooled mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Throw away everything in the strainer except the vanilla pod. Make sure that no pit fragments adhere to the vanilla pod.
- Add the maraschino liqueur to the strained mixture. Stir until the resulting mixture is uniform.
- Add the cherries to the mixture. Stir until the resulting mixture is uniform.
- Give each guest a jar, perhaps a small Mason jar. Decant some of the mixture into each guest's jar. Put a piece of the vanilla pod into each jar.
- Instruct each guest to refrigerate the jar for at least five days before eating. The shelf life is three weeks. (You could increase the shelf life by adding preservatives, but then you wouldn't get to taste the real thing.)
If you want real maraschino cherries but don't want to make them yourself, you can buy the Luxardo brand from Amazon (see below), which sells them for $21.99 for 400 g. This translates to $25 per pound. 88 percent of the 146 reviewers on Amazon give this product five stars, which is a rare vote of confidence and a true sign of quality. Other considerations that might affect your shopping decisions are that, on the one hand, you get free shipping, while, on the other hand, what you get is half cherries and half syrup. You can see why it pays to make your own.
Alternate party tip: If your guests are recovering alcoholics, you will want to avoid maraschino cherries, so an alternate party tip is to have a cherry pit spitting contest. Consult the official rulebook for court specifications, required cherry pit temperature, and other rules that must be followed if you contest is to be sanctioned..
A Final Word
Over the last two weeks I have made a couple of bulk purchases of cherries not recorded in these e-mails. You might wonder why I buy so many cherries. The reason is that because the season is so damnably short, one must maintain focus to make the most of it. (The national average per capita consumption of cherries in 1.9 pounds per year, so I am pulling my weight and then some.)
Rick
P.S. In case you missed it, this e-mail announced the second Fruit Explorer video, which you can find here. (If you have trouble with this site, a temporary alternate site is here.) This video stars Jose as the sensory consultant who evaluates the five types of cherries. It also features a cameo by Niamh (pronounced Knee-ev, it's Gaelic), who is Jose and Josh's dog and is part Rhodesian ridgeback; that's the kind of dog that was bred to hunt lions. Josh is the auteur/director/cameraman/editor/musician/dog wrangler. The action takes place on the screen porch of Pepe and Maria's Lake House, and you can almost make out Baxter Lake in the background through the trees.
