Every Tuesday I answer a question from a Good Food listener. You can email me a question, leave one on Facebook or add one in the comments section here. This week’s question comes from Valerie:
I am in need of sour cherries and cannot find any! Did I miss them? I am craving a fresh cherry pie!
If you’re in Los Angeles, you’re definitely out of luck. Cherries are the first stone fruit to appear during summer and they usually have a pretty short season. Couple that with the torrential rains we had this year and you get even less fruit that made it way to market than usual. Add in the very small numbers of farmers who bring sour cherries to the market in Southern California, and you have a situation which makes it very challenging for sour cherry pie makers. Next year plan a trip to pick your own sour cherries. However, there is a canned product from Oregon, labeled, actually Oregon Fruit Products. They are a seasonal packer of these short season berries which are much more abundant in the Northwest. Oregon is a family owned third generation business in Salem, OR. They grow in the Willamette Valley. I love their Tart Red Cherries. I’ve found them at Whole Foods and Pavilion’s.