CleverRoot

■cr RECIPE: Dried Cherry and Apricot Chutney This recipe was given to me by Chef John Ash, a tal- ented man in the kitchen who's the author of From the Earth to the Table, which won Book of the Year from the International Association of Culinary Profession- als' Julia Child Cookbook Awards. He also teaches at the Culinary Institute of America's facility in St. Helena, California. John is a dedicated promoter of the organic ideal. Of this chutney, he says, "This is a versatile, not-too-sweet chutney, a version of which I had years ago in an English pub. There they served it as an accompaniment to a nutty, aged cheddar cheese and whole-grain bread. I also love this with roast tur- key, duck, sausages and game meats such as venison. It makes a wonderful gift from your kitchen, packed into attractive little hinged glass jars." ➤ 2 cups dried tart cherries ➤ 1½ cups quartered dried apricots ➤ 1½ lbs. tart sweet apples such as Braeburn, Fuji or Gala, cored, peeled, cut into large dice ➤ 1¼ cups organic cider vinegar ➤ 1 cup dry white wine ➤ 1 cup brown sugar ➤ 1 tsp. sea salt ➤ ½ tsp. hot crushed red pepper flakes ➤ 2 Tbsp. chopped crystallized ginger ➤ 3 whole star anise ➤ 2 tsp. whole coriander seed ➤ ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper ➤ 2 Tbsp. slivered fresh garlic Place all ingredients except apples in a large, non-aluminum saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 10 minutes. Add the apples and return to a boil, then again reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 35 minutes or so, or until mixture has thickened. Stir occasionally. Remove and discard star anise. Ladle into hot sterilized jars, seal and refrigerate. Keeps up to three months refrigerated. You can extend the shelf life of this chutney and store it at room tem- perature by using the water-bath canning method. While sweet cherries are susceptible to fungal rots, sour cherries (Prunus cerasus), also known as pie cherries, are disease-resistant. I have seen pie cherry trees laden with bright red fruit sitting happily in the late spring rain, unsprayed, while a nearby Black Tartarian sweet cherry crop was nearly entirely taken by brown rot. Breeders are working on this problem by making hybrids between P. avium and P. cerasus—in fact, most modern cherry hybrids called Royal, or dual-purpose cherries, are the product of such crosses. They are valued for their hardiness, disease-resistance and good cooking qualities. Look for organic cherries, because cherries can be heavily sprayed for pests and fungus. Oregon, Utah, Washington and California are the biggest producers of sweet cherries, while Wisconsin, Michigan and New York produce most of the pie cherries, although some of each type are grown in all these states. A cherry that grows wild in the East and that is sometimes sold at roadside stands is the black cherry (Prunus serotina), also called the bird cherry or wild cherry. The dark, reddish-black fruits are small, about the size of a fingernail, not very sweet but intensely flavored. A sweetened syrup is made of their juice that's used to flavor soft drinks, ice creams and candies, as well as rum and brandies. The trees are sturdy-looking and beautiful, and their rich, reddish-brown wood is highly prized for cabinet-making. All told, there are 900 varieties of sweet cherries and 300 kinds of pie cherries in the world's markets. Sweet cherries are high in sugar (about ten percent or more), have good stores of potassium, but—unless they are acerola sour cher- ries—are relatively low in vitamin C (11 mg per three ounces of fruit). The dark cherries are high in antioxidants. Sweet cherries are mostly eaten out of hand, but they are also frozen to be sold in supermarkets, made into ice cream, used in pastries or dried. We get the Black Tartarian, Tulare and Burlat varieties in my home state of California in May, when itinerant vendors sell them out of the backs of their station wagons. Then come the so-called white cherries, usually Rainier or Royal Ann. The Bings come in dur- ing late June through July. Sour cherries are typically sweetened and cooked into pies and pastries, but some are also made into cherry soup and some are dried. These dried sour cher- ries can add some tang to a wide range of dishes, but especially sweet meats like pork and duck. There are two categories of sour cherries: Amarelle are light-col- ored with clear juice, such as the Montmorency variety that ripens in July; Griotte are dark with colored juice, such as the Morello variety. Cherry season always means it's time to get out the old marmalade crock I picked up at a country flea market. It has a ceramic lid that snaps closed. I fill it with two pounds of ripe but firm, unblemished cherries—some years sweet, some years sour, depending on which look the best. You can pit them, but I think the slight almond flavor of the pits adds a grace note to the cherries, so I don't pit them. If I'm using sweet cherries, I add a cup of sugar to the crock; if sour, a cup and a half of sugar. Then I fill the crock with a decent but not ex- pensive brandy, such as Korbel or Gallo, cover the top with two thick- nesses of wax paper and snap down the lid. It sits on the kitchen counter for a month or two, then it goes into the fridge until the holiday season. If the container were made of glass, I'd store it in a dark closet away from light. Brandied cherries over my own homemade organic vanilla ice cream (using a real vanilla bean) makes a fine finish to the Thanksgiving turkey. One Christmas, I pitted the cherries, chopped them and used them to make cherry-vanilla ice cream. It was spectacular. Or, the per- fect close to a Christmas dinner might be almonds, chocolate, brandied cherries and a glass of well-aged Port. But no cigar. s u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 7 7

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