Sour cherries for the taking

Yesterday morning I persuaded Callie to go for a walk with me outside our yard. She really doesn't like leaving the yard yet; I'm sure that will change as she gets older. But yesterday morning at about 6:30 I coaxed her to come down the tractor path outside the back gate with me. Then we walked along a foot path that separates a vineyard from a stand of trees along the north side of our property.

A tree covered in cherries

In the overgrown jungle on that strip of land, I noticed a good-size tree that was absolutely covered in bright red cherries. Since nobody tends that land, I figured the cherries could be mine for the picking if I could get back out there between rain showers. The rain will probably ruin the cherries by making them burst open and rot. And then it rained all day yesterday.

I picked a good basketful. The clouds looked threatening
so I worked as fast as I could, picking branches, leaves, and all.

This morning a hard rainshower woke me up at about 5:15. I went back to sleep. At about 6:15, Callie started making noises and sending signals that she needed to go outside. It had stopped raining, so she and I went for a walk inside the yard.

Back in the house, I had to strip the cherries off the branches.

A little later, my friend Cheryl in California mentioned cherries when we were chatting on Yahoo IM — she's cooking duck with cherry sauce today — and I remembered that cherry tree. It still wasn't raining at about 8:30, so out I went. I picked enough to fill a big basket, as you can see from the pictures here.

Here's the haul — enough for several pies or other uses.

The cherries are very sour. Sour cherries are what are called cerises acides or cerises surettes in French, as opposed to cerises douces, or sweet cherries. They are usually cooked — in pies, jams, or sauces.

Callie watched intently as I worked on the cherries. She only ate one.

These cherries are pretty sour, but they seem to be ripe — if you pull on the cherry stem, it and the pit pull right out. Walt is going to make a tart this afternoon with some of them. Maybe I'll freeze the rest, or cook them down with sugar to make jam or preserves. They won't go to waste.

Hmmm. Duck with cherry sauce. Not a bad idea. . .