Early summer cherries are a real treat

Page 14 Berthoud Weekly Surveyor Summer in Berthoud 2022 Early summer cherries are a real treat!

The beginning of summer means cherry season. Those little round, sweet, and tart bundles of joy bring back memories of my childhood, sitting around big bowls of cherries and eating them until I was covered in juice and sick to my stomach. But cherries are not just for eating fresh from the tree. Cherries can be made into baked goodies or even ice creams and cocktails.

Cherries and Berthoud have a long history going back to the late 1800s. At the turn of the last century, cherries were one of the main crops here in Berthoud and Loveland. In fact, The Loveland Cherry Company started canning cherries from all the available cherries grown in the area. Hundreds of cherry trees were planted in and around Berthoud and Loveland starting around 1867. The trees sometimes even had to be watered using tanker trucks, as irrigation wasn’t always available. Cherries were still a valuable cash crop up until the 1960s. After that, cherries became cheaper in other parts of the country. By the late 60s, the cherry orchards began to be sold off to build housing and other industries. Look around. There are references to cherries in street names and places throughout the Thompson Valleys. And the Loveland Museum has a cherry pie festival in early July.

But that doesn’t mean we still don’t have access to delicious cherries here in Berthoud. Especially during early summer, the stores are full of them, and if you are lucky, you may even have a tree or two in your backyard. Here are a few recipes for enjoying these delicious fruits. Cherries are easy to prepare for cooking. They only require a cherry pitter found in cooking stores or on Amazon. Of course, you can also just use a paring knife, but a pitter makes the job a breeze. I hope you try to cook with cherries. They are a great early summer fruit worthy of eating in all their glory.

Cherry Bomb Cocktail

Fresh cherries crushed into a delicious bourbon cocktail. 1/2 of a lemon, cut into wedges. 5 cherries, pitted and cut in half or quarters (I like mine cut into smaller pieces) 2 1/2 ounces of bourbon 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

In a cocktail shaker, add the lemon wedges and cherries.

Muddle together until you’ve released nearly all of the juice

Surveyor Columnist David Tisue

from the lemon, and the cherries are crushed up into smaller pieces. Add in the bourbon and maple syrup.

Add ice to the shaker and shake for 10-20 seconds until very cold. Strain into a glass filled with ice or one large ice cube. Garnish with a couple of fresh cherries or a maraschino cherry.

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Cheesecake Ice cream rippled with cherry ripple and gram crackers, makes 1 ½ quarts

For the ice cream base ¾ cups sugar 5 large egg yolks 1 cup heavy cream 2 cups whole milk ¼ teaspoon salt 1 Tbls. lemon juice 2 teaspoons vanilla

For the cherry ripple 1 cup of pitted cherries, coarsely chopped 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice ½ cup crumbled gram crackers

To make the ice cream base:

In a medium heatproof bowl or a 4-cup measuring cup, whisk together 6 tablespoons of the sugar (1/2 of the amount) and the egg yolks, and set aside.

Place the cream cheese in a second medium-sized heatproof bowl and set aside.

Combine the cream, milk, remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar, and the salt in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer. Then, reduce the heat to medium-low.

Take about ½ cup of the hot liquid and whisk it into the beaten egg yolks. Return the tempered egg yolks to the hot milk mixture. Stirring constantly, cook until the custard coats the back of a spoon and has thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to cook too fast, or the custard will curdle.

When the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clear path when you draw a finger across the back of the spoon, immediately strain through a fine-mesh strainer into the bowl with the cream cheese.

Whisk until the ice cream base is completely smooth.

Let the mixture cool to room temperature and then chill for at least 2 hours or even better overnight.

To make the cherry ripple:

Combine the cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stirring frequently, let the mixture come to a boil and cook until the cherries have broken down and the mixture has thickened and jammy. About 10-15 minutes. Strain into a container set aside, and chill until ready to use.

When ready to make the ice cream, have everything ready to go, including a container for freezing the finished rippled ice cream in the freezer to get it cold.

To make the ice cream:

Follow your manufacturer’s instructions and process the ice cream base until you have soft ice cream.

Place about 1/3 of the soft ice cream into the cold container, then add ½ of the graham crackers and ½ of the cherry ripple mixture in large separate dollops. Add 1/3 more of the ice cream, repeat with the remaining crackers and ripple, and then top with the final 1/3 of the ice cream.

Run a spatula swirling through the entire container once or twice to give a ripple effect. Be careful not to over mix. Immediately cover the ice cream with plastic wrap, pressing down to make a seal. Freeze the ice cream for 2-3 hours until firm.

Cherry Almond Cobbler

Fresh Cherry Cobbler with a brown sugar and almond topping 1 12-inch cobbler

For the filling:

2 1/2 pounds fresh cherries, pitted (about 3-4 cups) ½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the topping 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (2 teaspoons for low altitude) 1/2 teaspoon salt 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter cubed 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1 tablespoon powdered sugar ½ cup sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 375°

For the filling:

In a medium saucepan combine the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and the salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and let cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. The cherries will not be all the way cooked.

To make the topping:

In a bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the cream just until blended.

Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron pan.

Pour in the filling and spread evenly. Be careful because the skillet will be hot. Dollop the cobbler topping over the filling, the topping will be more like biscuit dough.

Combine the powdered sugar and the sliced almonds. Sprinkle over the topping.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the almonds are toasted and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream if desired

Photos by David Tisue.