City Bites' Deborah Aarts
on Ontario Cherries
Toronto: July 2007
Gremolata 132
Serving the good food revolution since 2004.

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Fruit Fetish: Ontario Cherries
by Deborah Aarts

When I was a teen, I had a summer job at a fruit farm in southwestern Ontario. For two weeks in late June and early July a certain hysteria took over. People would come from all over and amass a steady line outside the
door of the weighing house, returning day after day to replenish their stash of sweet black cherries.

No summer fruit in Ontario is so fetishised as the cherry, and no wonder. It’s unusually volatile (the slightest whisper of a spring frost can destroy a whole crop) and scarce (the harvest season seldom stretches longer than 14 days). But the real reason people go so nutty? Because nothing tastes like an Ontario sweet cherry in season. Dense, meaty, juicy and sweet, with a subtle and beguiling bitterness, each is a tiny ruby revelation. Because of their relative paucity, a ripe supply of Ontario cherries can be tough to track down in the city. Supermarkets may carry them, but you’ll have more luck at a farmer’s market or a greengrocer that specializes in local produce. Ask around, and be discerning; if you’re still seeing them in mid-August, they ain’t from around here.

An even better way to get your fix is to pick your own. There are dozens of U-pick orchards just a short drive out of the city (Niagara is a good bet, as is Arkona, a tiny town west of London). Picking cherries is a reasonably easy and surprisingly kid-friendly task.

There are countless ways to enjoy fresh cherries—in sangria, in salads, in a barbequed cobbler—but my preferred method is more straightforward. Grab a brimming pail of your loot. Find a sunny, grassy spot. Take off your
shoes. Sit back, and start poppin’ (you’ll want a second pail to catch your pits). Once you reach the bottom of your bucket—which you inevitably will—keep that final pit in your mouth for as long as you can, sucking out every last drop of flavour. It’s worth savouring next July is a long time away.

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