National Cherry Day

Friday, July 16th is National Cherry Day. Who knew? But one not to miss celebrating any holiday, I am embracing these glorious, ruby red gem in a few different recipes today. There is still time to get your fresh, frozen or canned cherries to whip up one of these easy recipes for your own celebration.

Cherry Options

Right now the grocery stores in my area have fresh cherries from the Pacific Northwest. Safeway, our local grocery store is selling the best cherries ~both red and Rainier (yellowish ones). We prefer to snack on the Rainier cherries and bake with the regular red cherries, but it is of course up to personal taste what you prefer.

If you do not have access to fresh cherries, frozen and canned ones are available. If using canned, I prefer the sweet or tart cherries packed in water vs. the gooey cherry pie filling. In the recipes below, I am using fresh red cherries.

Preparing the Cherries

Before you can use fresh cherries, it is important to remove the pit. This OXO cherry pitter is a handy affordable tool that makes pit removal a breeze. And its plastic guard prevents the juice from spraying on your hands or clothing. There is a small platform where you place the cherry and then you just squeeze the handle. The metal rod pushes the pit out the bottom. Easy peasy. You can find it here. However, whenever pitting cherries, I always wear an apron just in case.

Cherry Berry Skillet Crisp

This recipe is from one of my favorite bloggers, Tieghen from Half Baked Harvest. She is an innovative foodie who not only creates delicious recipes, but her pictures are so well done. Since I do not like to share recipes I haven’t personally tried yet, as I am writing this I can smell this skillet crisp baking in the oven. If it tastes as good as it smells, we have a winner.

Chock a block full of cherries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, this recipe is prepared in one oven safe skillet. Here I am using a 10″ cast iron one (see similar one here).

Melt the butter, add the fruit, mix the topping and spread the crumble on top and bake. Wow. So simple! Click here for the recipe.

A Gluten Free Version

Andrea from Design Morsels shares this gluten free individual serving cherry crisp recipe.

Using almond flour, raw almonds, shredded coconut, coconut sugar and coconut oil, this recipe can be made in 30 minutes or less.

See the recipe here.

Cherry Bourbon Ice Cream

Is there anything better than homemade ice cream on a hot summer’s day? And I’m not sure you can go wrong with cherries and bourbon. Whether you like bourbon or not, this recipe calls for a hint of bourbon with only 1 teaspoon. I am wondering if any more than that would affect the freezing process?

I don’t know much about bourbon but I do know this Basil Hayden is a good one.

With 1 1/2 cups of cherries this is a wonderful combination of vanilla ice cream, fruit and bourbon whiskey. My trusty Cuisinart frozen custard, ice cream and sherbet maker is able to chill this frozen dessert in 20 minutes. It’s a soft version but then you can finish it off in the freezer if you want a harder consistency. Cuisinart ice cream maker here.

Fruit Water

With all the leftover fruit, I am making a large pitcher of fruit water. Strawberries, cherries, cucumbers, and lemon are a few of the things you can add to water for color and flavor. Isn’t it interesting that all the cherries are sinking to the bottom?

Lately, I am not drinking nearly enough water. Ideally, we are supposed to be drinking half our body weight in ounces of water. Especially as we age, being hydrated is VERY important. Who is with me on drinking more water?

Fun Facts about Cherries

These facts are from National Today:

1. The average cherry tree has 7,000 cherries. Cherry trees are so productive, they can yield up to 28 pies.
2. There are two main types. Cherries are either sweet or tart.
3. Michigan is the cherry capital. Around 94% of cherries consumed in the U.S. are grown in Michigan.
4. Pits contain toxins. Don’t chew on cherry pits because they can release toxins.
5. There are more than 1000 different cherry varieties, sweet and tart combined, but only 20% of them are used for commercial purposes.

Happy Wednesday and Happy National Cherry Day this week. Enjoy the delicious, fresh cherries while they are in season!

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