By Laurie
President's Day brings up many questions. Chief among them -- besides the obvious "How do Abe Lincoln and George Washington feel about sharing a birthday party?" -- is "did George really chop down a cherry tree?"
Hard to know for sure, but if he was after cherries in the process I can't say I'd blame him. Cherries are among the most lovely and delicious of fruits and foods, and if you're not considering them alone or in recipes? You really should.
Bing cherries are the deep red standard in most grocery stores and farmer's markets, and they are delicious. Bings are fabulous alone -- which is the way I enjoy them the most, honestly.
Image courtesy of MillerSoap.
Sour cherries get the most street cred for pies, but there are plenty of recipes for the Bing variety too.
My more-expensive obsession is Rainier cherries, created and grown in Washington State.
Image courtesy of FreshPlaza.com
Yes, they're more expensive than your average fruit, and are therefore especially not the kind you want to let rot on the windowsill. But they are beautiful to look at and delicious too, so if you're able to splurge even a little at the grocery store, this is a good place to spend a few extra pennies.
Want to take your cherries of any kind beyond eating them off of the stem? There are plenty of recipes to be found online for delicious cherry dishes:
Erika Penzer Kerekes's Rainier Cherry Pie was featured on KCRW's Good Food Blog. It sounds delicious.
Image courtesy of KCRW.org
ChooseCherries.com features recipes from Ellie Krieger and Keri Glassman. I think I'll be trying out Krieger's Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce.
EatingWell.com has a large selection of sweet cherry recipes, and remind us that cherries have a good dose of potassium, Vitamin C and fiber. How about some Bourbon Cherries for a little cocktail with your fruit?
Image courtesy of EatingWell.com
Foodess has a cherry crisp recipe that sounds amazing -- with ice cream, naturally. And since it's not quite cherry season for most of us, PieChef has a recipe for pie using frozen cherries.
What's Cooking America features recipes using sour and sweet cherries, including a classic cherry pie.
And according to Gourmet.com, Martha Washington herself was apparently a fan of Cherry Bounce, a cordial involving cherries, sugar, brandy and rum.
Image courtesy of Gourmet.com
Cherries for President's Day? I may not have talked you into it, but fresh or frozen, I know what I'll be snacking on today.
Man, these look awesome! It's still about two and a half months until cherry season here, but now I'll be thinking about them non-stop.
Posted by: Erik | February 21, 2011 at 09:06 PM