Peas and cherries

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Posted at 3:30PM, 21 May 2008 by Mary Cadogan - Food writer

The annual Pea and Cherry festival which is happening in the next village next weekend is a sure sign that summer is indeed upon us, even though IÃ¢ÂÂm still wearing socks and sneaking the heating on for a quick blast in the mornings. There were big fat juicy bigarreau bigarreau cherries on sale in the market this morning but by the time the festival comes round there will be a huge range of different varieties to taste and buy.

The local cherry society will have a stand with blind tastings, games for the children and cherry recipes to try, plus all the local producers will be vying to attract customers to their stalls piled high with glistening fruit.

If the sun comes out, which it usually does, there will be a real holiday atmosphere as locals and visitors go from stall to stall chatting to the growers and choosing the best on offer.

As usual everything stops for lunch, which is usually a bargain 12 euros including wine. Everyone squashes up along trestle tables in the village square and the menu consists, youÃ¢ÂÂve guessed it, of course after course of dishes where peas and cherries feature in one form or another.

Last year we had pea soup minted pea soup, followed by duck with braised peas and lettuce, followed by cherry clafouti, cherry clafoutis , a sort of cherry batter pudding which can be very light and delicious but often tends towards the firm side of stodgy if not made with care. Now that I have lived in this part of France for over three years I greatly look forward to events like this one as they give the culinary calendar shape and texture and highlight the coming and going of the seasons. ItÃ¢ÂÂs also a good excuse to meet friends, swap gossip and recipes of course, and have a great day out for very little cost.

I am checking my own cherry tree each day as the tiny crop I lovingly nurtured on my young tree last year were scoffed by greedy birds just as they reached their peak of ripeness. So this year itÃ¢ÂÂs a battle of timing, but I think I can guess whoÃ¢ÂÂs going to win this one.

Comments

Gayns

26 May 2008, 5:08PM
Gayns

your life in France sounds so lovely- I wish I was there and then I realised that I have my fresh raspberries & lovely ripe figs in my garden to look forward to too. Would love to live the French Lifestyle though. After visiting Normandy a couple of years ago and sampling the local calvados and cheeses and mixing with the local people it was something that will stay in my memory forever- truly a great experience.

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sunshine-fairy

28 May 2008, 9:29PM
sunshine-fairy

I live in Turkey and we have the most wonderful ripe black cherries in the market at the moment. Mix them with an equal quantity of strawberries, and then the same amount of sugar (equivalent to total quantity of fruit) and the juice of one lemon per 500g of fruit. Soak all the ingredients together overnight, then the next day bring to a gentle simmer for 15 mins, until all the sugar has dissolved. Then boil rapidly for about 10-15 minutes to make the most divine summer jam. You could subsitute some of the fruit for raspberries, but we don't get those here. Apricots are also a good addition. 1kg each of fruit and sugar makes about 4.5 normal jam-jar size jars. This recipe also works perfectly with apricots (but not peaches for some reason - they don't seem to pulp down as much).

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