Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sour Cherry Pie

I almost squeeled with delight when I saw sour cherries at a farmers market out in Bedford, and happily picked a bunch up. After convincing myself that the bug I brought home with them just meant they were freshly-picked, I got to washing and pitting!! Yes, a cherry pitter is a very good investment (especially when you've gone through a season w/o one) :)


Sour cherries are slightly smaller and brighter than their sweet counterparts, and you'd certainly know if you accidentally popped one in your mouth! Like all of nature's bounty, cherries are great for you-- full of vitamins and minerals (potassium, Vit C, complex B Vit). Tart cherries are also particularly high in antioxidants, contain melatonin, and have been touted to have anti-inflammatory properties. (For more information try here, here or here)

It didn't take me long to settle on making a cherry pie with my gorgeous red rubies.

Sour Cherry Pie

Looks great, right? Yeah, that's about where it ended :( When I went to cut into it, I was met with a see of red. After draining out the liquid, I saw a soggy crust and was utterly defeated. We're talking Julie-style meltdown here. It wasn't pretty. Which reminds me, I have to thank Bakespace and Erin for the opportunity to attend an advanced screening of Julie and Julia! I had no idea Julia Child was such a character, but I loved the movie :) Erin wrote a fantastic review here, I urge you to check it out!


After scraping myself off the floor, I knew that the filling would still be delicious. Indeed, my Sour Cherry crisp was awesome :) As was the banana soft serve I finally tried with it!

Sour Cherry Crisp w/Banana Soft Serve

To finish off the sour cherries I had, I made 1 jar of Sour Cherry Jam that I can't wait to dig in to!

Sour Cherry Jam

Have you tried sour cherries? What's you're favorite thing to make with them? And to any bakers out there... any tips? (I was listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper at the time, and ironically enough she said to prevent a soggy crust, prebake your crust. Prebake I did, and it did not help. I'm thinking the cherries were just too wet, even with patting them dry and adding 1/4c cornstarch to the mix...)

30 comments:

vanillasugarblog said...

yes, let's make a pie girl! I can't tell you how many rainer cherries I have been devouring from whole foods.
I need to make a sour cherry pie next before the season (which is short) is almost over.
Is it humid today or what? I only left the house once today, too humid.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Haha I WOULD have squealed with delight - looks fabulous!! Too bad about the sogginess though :(

Sour cherries recipes:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=sour+cherries&fnSearchType=recipe

Anonymous said...

I've never tried sour cherries before. Must be nice and tart!
and I ADORE Julia Child! Did you know she used to be a spy for the government?

Erica said...

I have never tried a sour cherry but they sure are BEAUTIFUL. Bummer that the pie got soggy! I am SO jealous you got to see the movie early...I cannot WAIT until it comes out

Anna said...

I'm sorry the cherry pie didn't turn out- at least it looks totally gorgeous! It looks like you salvaged it well.

It was great to meet you last night! I had lots of fun- what a neat event.

The Purple Carrot said...

I love sour cherries!! My mom has a sour cherry tree in her backyard and I took a bunch home with me last time I was there : )

Anonymous said...

These are amazing cherry sweets, love the pie! My mom brings me a bag of sour cherries from a farm near them every summer, I really love them. Back in Ukraine, those are the only cherries we actually had.

Kerstin said...

Aww, well at least you were able to eat it as a crumble :) You could try making the cherry part on the stove first to make sure it thickened up properly. I have watery crumble issues too sometimes!

♥peachkins♥ said...

Those sour cherries looks like they went well with the banana soft serve.

I'm sorry about the crust,though

Adam said...

Sour cherries are def among my favorites. They are just different, and I like their color the best. I mean don't get me wrong, Bing's are cool too, but I think Sour Cherries would win in a fight :)

Too bad about the sogginess, but hey, it happens to ALL of us. Great job and recovery :)

Erica said...

The jicama chips were FABULOUS. Very light. For 1 whole sweet potato and about 1 cup of jicama I only used 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and then some pam spray and they turned out PERFECT. If I had more jicama I'd make them again tonight :)

Yasmeen said...

Besides eating them whole,I also love to make preserves with cherries.Love the pie:D

Maria said...

I rarely make pies, I think I just might have to though after seeing yours!

allijag said...

OMG - i love cherries !:)

Kelly said...

Sorry to hear about the sogginess. My friend would be hugely excited to see those cherries though. She's been looking for them everywhere with no luck. Honestly though I sometimes think my failures teach me as much (if not more) than my successes in the kitchen.

pigpigscorner said...

THe pie looks delicious! I've never had sour cherries and have never seen them sold here.

Paige@ Running Around Normal said...

That pie looks scrumptious! Sorry it didn't work out :-/ although it sounds like you salvaged it pretty well :)

Sagan said...

YUM cherries are great. So glad that the recipe worked out so well for you!

Elina said...

I LOVE sour cherries. In fact I have a recipe that I plan on making very soon w/ sour cherries (maybe even this weekend) and now I'm scared. You are a much more experienced cook and baker than I am, so we'll see what happens. I may just stick to something simple, like chocolate ;)

Karine said...

I love cherries and this pie looks fabulous!

Nicole said...

I'm so glad you liked the movie. I can't wait to see it! BTW, your pie looked awesome. Who cares if it was soggy? All that matters is that it tasted good going down :) And, that you even attempted to make a treat like that. Go YOU!

Lainie said...

Hi! I just found your blog and I LOVE IT! So cute. Can I just tell you that I love cherries, and I love cherry pie even more? It's my all time favorite kind of pie, and my mouth waters just looking at yours...beautiful!

Joanne said...

I keep passing by stores with tons of canning supplies and thinking...I should really can stuff and then give it away as gifts. Or maybe I can fundraise with it! Hmmm that's a thought.

From what I hear pies are tough and take a lot of practice. At least the filling was still good!

Pam said...

I am loving the cherry pie - sour cherries are the best.

Anonymous said...

I have never had sour cherries - I am intrigued!

I usually blind bake my pie crusts before putting the filling in - maybe that would work?

Dewi said...

Honestly, I never aware of this sour cherry. Sounds delicious!

Sharon said...

Ooh, lucky! I can't wait to see the movie. I'm not sure I've ever had a sour cherry but now I want to make this pie!

Jess said...

Julie and Julia is next on my reading list. I can't wait!

Jackie at PhamFatale.com said...

I loved the movie. Check out my review at http://www.phamfatale.com/id_411/title_Julie-and-Julia-Movie-Review/

Frank said...

Tart cherries are amazing, even the concentrate is great! Check out this site;
http://www.tartcherryconcentrate.net

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