Look what splendour awaited us in our tiny ‘backyard’ when we returned from London.
This old cherry tree is immense, dominates the pocket handkerchief lawn and was looking astonishingly beautiful on the glorious Spring day which greeted us.
The previous owners also left us a very charming note bequeathing us their orchard ladder and cherry pitter.
Please forward all your favourite cherry recipes to yours truly – I think they’re going to be needed.
My husband’s Norwegian uncle makes an amazing drink from cherries. Here’s what you do:
Get a huge jar, possibly 3 or 4 litres, that seals up well. Fill with cherries, and a good sprinkling of sugar every layer.
Fill up with gin or vodka. (In Norway you can buy pure spirit that has no taste but I can’t find it in the UK)
Leave for a week. Turn upside down. Keep turning once a week for a month. Now leave in a cool cupboard for the rest of the year and forget about it.
When the next year’s cherries are ready, dig out your jar and strain the liqueur into bottles. Start all over again!
In our family the liqueur is so highly prized it has to be rationed or it gets necked far too quickly. Yum!
Rach,
THANK YOU! That sounds absolutely sublime and I will definitely be making it if we get enough cherries off the tree. I know what you mean about the pure spirit – my Italian uncle makes his own divine homemade limoncello liqueur with pure alcohol. Doubt very much I’ll be able to find it in the States either (US readers let me know) but I will try with vodka.
What a fabulous tree and what wonderful neighbours.