CHERRIES
Many people eat lunch at their desk. I cook at my desk.
Sure, I’m catching a YouTube at the same time, or streaming something that I don’t want to miss. But I’m still cooking.
I strip fresh thyme sprigs of their wee leaves; same for the leaves from stems of flat leaf parsley, spearmint, cilantro, basil, or rosemary. I’ve peeled strips of lemon at my desk.
And just now I’ve pitted sweet cherries there. Hundreds of sweet cherries.
Not much more tedious than pitting cherries. But, also, when they are nearing their season (sadly, a brief mid-June to mid-July), not much more exciting than knowing you’ll taste their awesomeness for weeks to come.
They freeze super well; they dry superbly. Don’t even look at the everyday price of dried cherries.
Best to do batches of your own when cherries are going for a couple bucks a pound.
But—gotta pit ‘em.
If you’ve a handheld (or, ha, desktop) cherry pitter, so much the easier. But few folk pack a pitter. I experimented around (with opened paper clips, as one guide instructed; with a straw, as another did) and I found that the best way for me was to use a square-cut chopstick and an empty narrow-mouthed bottle. I fiddled with three bottles, plastic and glass both, and a large, empty glass San Pellegrino water bottle worked best.
One at a time, put a washed, dried, and stemmed sweet cherry on the top of the bottle, stem side up; push through with the fat end of the chopstick; and, bingo Bing, out from the bottom of the cherry pops the pit (into the empty bottle).
Repeat one thousand times.
To freeze sweet cherries: Place whole or halved cherries, stemmed and pitted, in a single layer, on a sturdy plastic or aluminum tray and freeze overnight. Store in the freezer in airtight bags or containers.
To oven-dry sweet cherries: Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper, on which is placed an ovenproof wire cooling rack. Evenly space stemmed and pitted cherries on the rack and let sit in the oven for at least 6 hours. After cooling completely, store in airtight bags or containers.
Elaine Louis, in The New York Times, has this terrific recipe for “Cherry Lemonade”: Place 1/2 cup pitted sweet cherries, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 4 tablespoons sugar, and 1 cup ice water in a blender; purée 1 minute. Add more sugar to taste. Pour into ice-filled glasses and top with sprigs of mint.
With their leaves on.
Yellow-tinged Rainier cherries, center, separated by garnet-hued Bings, left, and dark mahogany Santinas.
RECIPE: Cherry, Jalapeño, and Cilantro Salad
From Alon Shaya’s “Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel”; serves 6-8
Chef Shaya writes, “I love salads that combine the sweet and savory as masterfully as this one. The flavors and textures are almost like ceviche: juicy, meaty, tender, so alive, each ingredient the absolute purest and most intense version of itself. If you’re not contending with a surplus of cherries, it works just as well with peak-season peaches, plums, or tomatoes.”
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh sweet cherries
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, preferably seasoned
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
Grated zest of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, seeds and pith removed, thinly sliced
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, torn
Directions
Pit the cherries (you can use your hands to split them into rough halves). You should have about 6 cups’ worth.
In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, olive oil, salt, lime zest, and lime juice. Add the cherries and toss to coat. Scatter with the shallots, jalapeño, and cilantro. Serve right away.