Cherry Picking… figuratively and literally!

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LINDA GARSON

Can there be a more beautiful time of year than cherry blossom season? We know winter is over, and now there are only good times to come. While we’re a long way from Tokyo, Alberta does have its share of the lovely pink blossoms. Calgary is known for the gorgeous weeping cherry blossoms, but Edmonton is king here with Yoshino cherry blossom (typically associated with Japan) in the Legislature grounds, U of A Botanic Garden, Fairmont Macdonald Hotel, Victoria Promenade, and many other locations.

However, lovely to look at aside, unlike zucchini we’re not eating the blossoms, so what about the cherries themselves?

A visit for the cherry harvest last summer at the picturesque Lautenbach's Orchard Country Winery & Market in Door County, Wisconsin, started the thinking about cherries and how they relate to us here in Alberta.

Well, we developed the Evans Cherry here, and it was rediscovered 49 years ago near Edmonton by Sr. Leuan Evans. It’s a cold-hardy, sour cherry tree that produces tart cherries for baking, preserves, and perfect for Cherry Bounce (see below), and Keith & Carla Gabert’s Cherry Farm, just west of Innisfail, has more than 600 cherry trees (and they’re available for u-pick in a month or so!).

The trees need at least six hours of sunshine a day, and can take four years to bear usable fruit, and while tart cherries self-pollinate, you can rent bees to pollinate sweet cherries - expect around 5,000 or more cherries from a tree. We know that deer are fond of cherries however, and we learned that a bar of soap, which smells like humans, scares them off!

What can you do with them when you’ve picked them? Apart from the obvious cherry pies, you can make the delightfully boozy Cherry Bounce! This has been a classic southern way of preserving cherries for a few hundred years, and a favourite of George Washington (you can find Martha Washington’s recipe easily online).

Cherry Bounce is a simple liqueur made by infusing tart cherries with (traditionally) French brandy and sugar, although now you’ll find people using vodka and whisky, and preferring honey instead of sugar, and adding cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. And… joy oh joy – you can eat the cherries afterwards, particularly tasty on ice cream and cakes!

Cherry Bounce

At its simplest, to make Cherry Bounce you’ll need around :

2 cups tart cherries

⅔ cup granulated sugar

2-3 cups good quality brandy, whisky, rum, or other spirit

You don’t have to pit the cherries, but if you don’t then do prick them a few times to help them absorb the liquid. In a large clean jar, combine the liquor and the sugar and shake, shake, shake until all the sugar has dissolved. Then add the cherries and any spices if you like, and with the top on the jar, gently shake. Leave in a warm spot for around a week, and then hide it away in a cool, dark place for three months. At that time strain the liquid, reserving the cherries for another use, and leave overnight. Serve chilled over ice, or mix with other spirits for a cocktail.

You do need patience for Cherry Bounce, but the good news is by making it in the summer it’s ready for the holidays –Thanksgiving or at Christmastime!

Life really can be a bowl of cherries!