Very Cherry

Here's Ann… Life is just a bowl of cherries, cherry ripe, the cherry on the cake – obviously there’s something about cherries. Now is cherry season – the Turkish ones are still in the shops, the season for Kentish cherries just starting.  Do not copy the 17th Century young woman who entered a cherry eating competition with her beau, and consumed 20lbs – a feat which apparently kept her confined to her bed for some time. Some 200 varieties of cherry are grown at the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale. The most famous is probably Early Rivers, first grown by Thomas Rivers in Bedfordshire in 1872. As you might guess, it crops early. In Borough market at present  there are baskets of different varieties of cherries from Brogdale – you could conduct a cherry tasting. I always think cherry recipes are a disappointment – the French clafoutis  ends up as a heavy slab of batter with some fruit in it. My favorite way of dressing them up a little is to melt some dark chocolate, and add a little water, and give each guest a small bowl of chocolate sauce in which to dip their cherries. In winter it’s nice with mandarin orange segments replacing the cherries. For more foodie thoughts, join my Foodie London Walk this Saturday, August 4, starting at 10 am at Monument tube, Fish St. Hill exit.