National Cherry Day 2023

When I was a kid I used to love to snag the jar of maraschino cherries my mom kept in the fridge for garnishing Dad's highballs. I would put a significant part of the jar on a dish and squirt it with this aerosol whipped creme and tear them up. I would eat the fruit, syrup, and whipped creme right down. Sometimes I would awaken my mother who became rather stern regarding this practice, but I swear I was a repeat offender and DID offend again !

Over the years I cultivated a taste for cherries I bought at the farmer's market. These were kept in a large crate and I would obtain a bagful and depart to wash then refrigerate and devour them each and every one ending up with a rather noteworthy collection of pits. I don't know from where this affinity for the cherry arose ... only that it has stuck with me over the years to this day. I like tart cherries most of all but won't snub a sweet cherry either.

Today is National Cherry Day.

It is celebrated each July 16 in the throes of summer. I believe the weather became furnace like in it's honor. Cherries assume a taste profile called sweet to tart. They also have varying shades of color red to yellow and they are very useful ingredients in baking and mixology.

Cherries are said to have arrived in America along with the early settlers somewhere in the 1600s.

So if you like to partake of cherries I hope you'll indulge yourself today, National Cherry Day.