Life is just a bowl of cherries



The cherries came early this year and for the last two weeks I have been silently begging them to hold on just a little longer, pleading for the birds to hold off
another few days.

Because I simply had too much going on to spend a day stoning cherries.



We have not totally neglected the cherries, there has been claffoutis of course and we have eaten many.




But there simply wasn't time to stone them.



Because it takes a very long time to stone 2kg of cherries.

I had mentally planned it for today, today I could make the time. Today it was raining and blowing a gale, more like an October's day than mid-July. The irony of wobbling upon a wet and windblown stepladder in order to pick the most summery of fruits was not lost upon me and as I climbed higher, reached further, wobbled harder; I considered the wisdom of solo cherry picking on such a day.



But do you know? Later, as I sat in my kitchen with the hum of Radio 4 in the background, I could think of no better day for cherry stoning. And the pleasure of standing over a steaming preserve pan, the cherries rolling and bubbling within whilst the rain tip-taps upon the skylights, well it can scarcely be beaten. A warm and busy kitchen is a very good place to be on a day like this.



And whatever the forecast is for tomorrow, it will almost certainly be the right time to eat sweet cherry jam upon fresh baked bread.




Comments

Pomona said…
The Head Chef was doing exactly the same yesterday! But I think we will have to save the jam for the B&B, lucky things. Maybe I will get just one jar for domestic consumption if I am lucky ...

Pomona x
Sarah said…
Oh it has been a perfect day for kitchen time indeed - love this post - that jam looks delicious
Eloise said…
Such lovely pictures - makes me want to get some warm bread and put cherry jam on. I bought cherry stoner (Good German Made) a couple of years ago and have never looked back!
Harriet said…
That looks like a real treat. I don't think I've ever eaten 'real' cherry jam. Hope it's as good as it looks.
Frances said…
You've made me laugh with your vivid description the feeling of blending seasons atop a ladder.

How wonderful to actually be able to pick your very own cherries! Here in New York, I will carefully try to select some scrumptious cherries from the display at my neighborhood market. Cherry picking, my style. The prices are too, too high! That is why I envy you your own harvest.

xo
herhimnbryn said…
Cherry jam and fresh bread AND rain, how wonderful.
Victoria said…
It is making my mouth water. x
Ali said…
Yuuuuum! I am thinking similar thoughts about the wild plums...
kristina said…
A bird got into the fruit cage and ate all our sweet cherries, but we're positively drowning in sour cherries. Must get over my fear of jam making!

K x
Dotty said…
You painted a delicious picture. I bet your jam will taste wonderful
Anonymous said…
Our cherries aren't quite ripe .... then it will be a race to pick them before the birds eat them!!
t does wool said…
Not just cherries,Rebecca...delicious!
rachel said…
Perfect. You might not have enjoyed the steamy fruit-boiling part so much if it had been hot and sunny outside! Your jam looks lovely.....
Delicious, both your unexpected day and the idea of your jam upon fresh baked bread.
Jenny Woolf said…
Can't beat Radio 4 for shelling peas, too!
nicole said…
If I lived closer I would love to come and help you stone cherries (with the secret hope of going back home with a jar of cherry jam)

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