Cherries – info & recipes

The cherry season is short; they are at their best in December, so enjoy them while you can. Choose organic cherries to avoid all the pesticides in non-organic cherries.

Cherries are very good for you, with high levels of antioxidants, potassium, iron, vitamin C and B complex vitamins. Cherries contain phytonutrients (eg: flavenoids), and eating phytonutrient rich fruits and vegetables, such as cherries, helps to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Additionally, recent studies have shown cherries have the potential to relieve the pain of arthritis, gout and inflamed joints.
Many recipes call for pitted cherries. You can buy cherry stoners from speciality kitchen stores, or pit them with a small sharp knife.

RECIPES

ORGANIC CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAKE
185g organic dark chocolate, roughly chopped
185g organic butter, diced
1 1/2 cups finely grated palm sugar
3 organic eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup organic plain spelt flour, sifted
2/3 cup organic wholemeal spelt flour, sifted
2 tsp aluminium-free baking powder
1 cup pitted and halved organic cherries
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter a 20cm cake tin, and line the base with grease proof paper. Gently heat chocolate and butter, stir until melted, and then cool slightly. In a large bowl beat palm sugar, eggs and vanilla until well mixed. Fold in almond meal, flours, baking powder, cherries, and chocolate mixture. Pour cake mixture into tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Cool and serve with thick organic cream.
Serves 10.

ORGANIC CHERRY CRUMBLE
1 kg organic cherries, pitted
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp + 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup almonds
80g organic butter, finely diced
1 1/3 cups organic spelt flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp aluminium-free baking powder
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Combine cherries with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar. Place in the bottom of a baking dish.
Put the butter, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar in a food processor and pulse until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add almonds and process a little, so the almonds are still quite chunky.
Press crumble mixture over cherries quite firmly, then bake for 30 minutes, or until well browned.
Serve warm with organic vanilla ice cream or organic cream.
Serves 6.