Cherries Galore

Where did June go to? I can't believe that it's already July. Generally, this means that strawberry season is over (unless you grow everbearing strawberries), and for me it means that summer becomes not just hot, but also very muggy. It also means that sour cherry season will be ending soon too.

As I posted earlier, my cherry tree produced a lot more cherries, in which I froze. I have yet to use the cherries, although I already have great plans for these fruit. In addition to the fruit from my tree, guess what? I've gotten a great windfall of sour cherries from people living across the street. They don't do anything with the fruit and the very thought of all that fruit going to waste brings tears to my eyes. Of course, I asked for permission to pick and it was granted. So, as of late, I've gotten some booty of the sour variety kind.

I don't know what variety the cherry is. All I know is that it is a sour cherry, and when it's ripe, it is dark red, the flesh is a deep burgundy, and the juice is wine red. The cherries on my Mesabi cherry tree, when ripe, is a beautiful bright red, the flesh is yellow, and the juices run either clear or with a yellow tint. I also know that these cherries are fantastic when turned into jam. I mean FANTASTIC!!! It is my favorite jam and what I will probably associate with summer. I don't mind the picking and I look forward to creating sour cherry jam; although, I must admit that it's a pain in the behind to pit the cherries. I've been promising to post about my jamming session, and I think I'll post about sour cherry jam.