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After a long dinner at my favourite restaurant, Ristorante Nino in the centre of Rome, I didn't think even the best gelato in the world could tempt me towards dessert. The intense mid-summer heat, trapped by the burnt orange Roman buildings, hadn't deterred me from indulging in all my Roman favourites, from deep-fried artichokes to a crispy spicy steak. But when the waiter, unfazed by the hot evening in full white tie, offers a bowl of cherries I can't say no. They arrive in a silver bowl of ice and I've never seen anything more decadent and glamorous.
Cherries are in season in the UK from June to August, from the bouncy red Bing variety, to Lapins, Summer Sun, Kordia or May Duke. We're currently enjoying a glut of the dark, almost black, sweet and firm ‘Vanda’ variety of the fruit. They can also be preserved or frozen at this time of year. It's an incredibly versatile fruit, perfect for everything from cakes and crumbles to pickles and pastries. It can even be used - as Dolly Parton instructs - as a natural lip and cheek stain.
Yes, cherries are delicious and luxurious, but they're also classed as ‘superfoods', with wonderful health benefits. "Cherries contain vitamin C which helps your body absorb iron, produce collagen, and defend against cell damage," explain Kirsty and Lindsay from Studio Nourish, the London-based nutritionists and functional medicine experts. “Along with other dark fruits, they are also rich in anthocyanins which give these fruits their deep red-blue colour and their remarkable ability to prevent collagen destruction and inflammation,” they add. Not only that, but all cherry varieties contain “tryptophan and melatonin,” they explain, “which can help regulate sleep. The highest quantity is found in tart cherries like the Montmorency.”
Studio Nourish references a study which indicates that 1 in 40 people in the UK will experience gout, a disease which occurs because of a build-up of urate in joints and can be incredibly painful. According to the experts, this is partly due to high-purine foods like red meat raising uric acid levels. Studio Nourish indicates that cherries are a natural antidote to this process: “Decades of research show cherries can lower uric acid, reduce gout attacks, and ease symptoms, often within hours. They may also help osteoarthritis, insomnia, heart disease, dementia, cancer, and muscle recovery after exercise.”
To ensure you're receiving the maximum amount of their health benefits, Studio Nourish recommends eating them fresh and whole, but indicates that frozen cherries are also a good option as their nutrients generally preserve well: “When foods are eaten whole you actually enjoy their natural flavours and textures, and you benefit from the synergistic effects of their nutrients.”
“There's a bit of a retro feel to cherries - you think of the classic 70s dinner party menu of roast duck with cherries, followed by Black Forest Gateau. Or the chilled wild cherry soup, luminously pink, served at Soho's famous old Hungarian restaurant Gay Hussar,” says food critic and regular MasterChef judge Tracey Macleod, “But they're so versatile. They can bring sourness or sharpness to a savoury dish or blowsy sweetness to a dessert.”
The return to retro in many dining establishments means Tracey is seeing cherries pop up on some of her favourite menus. She also recommends including them in your cooking: “Fresh cherries work brilliantly with grilled fish: just pickle them quickly with some red wine vinegar, sugar, star anise and peppercorns. And cherry Clafoutis is a great stand-by if you need to rustle up an impressive pudding from store-cupboard ingredients. For me, they are the most sophisticated of fruits - with a touch of sexiness thrown in.”
So before summer ends, try adding cherries where you can to your favourite cooking rotations. Whether you're whizzing them up in a smoothie, adding them to salads or sorbets, or simply enjoying them whole, on a bed of ice, they never disappoint this time of year.
