June is Cherry Time!

By Marie-Christine Perry

The two cherry trees I planted four years ago, a sour cherry and a sweet cherry grafted with 5 different varieties, have been in full bloom for the first time! I had small crops from the sour cherry every year—mostly eaten by birds the day before I was going to pick them—but never from the sweet cherry. It was damaged by a visiting buck the first spring after being planted and continued life with a large branch that I re-attached with tape. This spring many cherries are forming on both trees, and I am quite excited! 

June in France is cherry time, and folk songs poetically announce their brief return to our midst. To me, this moment evokes the return of clafoutis, the early summer dessert of my childhood, and other memories: climbing a neighbor’s tree to sit in its branches and read with sweet snacks hanging above me; making cherry jam with my grandmother in her copper caldron while hanging the deep red “earrings” around our ears and laughing in the warm kitchen. Red, black, white and yellow, cherries brought their beauty to the kitchen table and rounded out many evening meals. I also remember my great-grandmother making tisane with cherry stems.

Cherries have many benefits. They are a good source of vitamins like C, B6, potassium and magnesium. Cherry stems are rich in polyphenols which have natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Apart from their health properties, cherries are a delicious early summer fruit one can enjoy while the season lasts.

Clafoutis is an easy-to-make summer dessert. It can also be made later in the summer with little wild plums, or apricots. Bon appétit!

Cherry Clafoutis

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 quart milk
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup flour
1 oz butter
1 lb. sweet black cherries, washed and stemmed

Method 

• Pre-heat oven to 400° and butter a large gratin dish.
• Put eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until the mixture becomes foamy. 
• Pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk, along with the bean. Bring the milk to a simmer, then take the pan off the heat and remove the vanilla bean. 
• Incorporate the flour, then the hot milk, into the egg and sugar mixture.
• Arrange the cherries at the bottom of the gratin dish (traditionally cherries are not pitted for this dish). 
• Pour the batter delicately on top without disturbing the cherries, put the dish in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Like a quiche, the clafoutis should be set but still have a jiggle and be lightly golden on top. If you are unsure, insert a skewer to test. It should come out clean. 
• Sprinkle sugar on top and eat while still warm.