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Storytime Tapestry
Newsletter
The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural
awareness throughout the world.
Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia
A Hartson Dowd Column
July
21, 2006
Sour or Sweet,
CHERRIES are a first sign of summer.
Vignola, in Italy, and Traverse City in Michigan both claim to be the "Cherry capitol
in the world". Traverse City grows more, but Vignola has been at
it longer--about 2000 years.
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of
Michigan. It is the largest in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. As of
the 2000 census, the city population was 14,532. It is the county seat of Grand
Traverse County. Despite its modest population, Traverse City is the
self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World, holding an annual week-long Cherry Festival the first full week in July
to celebrate the fact. Besides cherries, the surrounding countryside produces
grapes and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest.
The National Cherry Festival, held during
the first full week of July every year, is the main tourist draw to Traverse
City. The festival features parades, fireworks, live music, and cherries. It is
estimated that the Grand Traverse region produces up to 360,000,000 pounds of
cherries annually. The largest variety of cherry produced is the Montmorency
cherry, or the "pie cherry". Other cherries grown in the region
include the Ulster, or sweet cherry, and the Balaton (from Lake Balaton in
Hungary). A cherry situated between the Montmorency and Ulster in terms of
color and taste.
CHERRIES were adding excitement to the human diet well before
recorded history. Remains of several species have been found in ancient
sites in Switzerland, Scandinavia, and America. Of the many species of
wild cherries that were used for food, only two have been domesticated: Prunus
cerasus {the sour cherry} and Prunus avium {the sweet cherry}. Although there is no proof that cherries were
cultivated in ancient China and Egypt. Greek and Roman writers mentioned
them as early as 300 B.C. Lucullus, a Roman general and gourmet, is
credited with intorducing cherries to Italy in 65 B.C. However, we now
know that cherries had been enjoyed in Italy long before that date.
The cherry was one of the first fruits planted by colonists in
America. Although wild varieties were already growing in this country,
seeds carried from England were planted as well. Cherry plantings spread
all along the East Coast and on to California, where the Franciscans introduced
them to their mission gardens. The United States is the world's largest
producer of cherries.
WHEN PURCHASING cherries, look for ones that are firm, plump, and smooth,
with a bright, lustrous color, characteristic of the variety, Avoid
cherries that have cracks or signs of mold.
Some Cherry Varieties:
Bing
sweet round, plump, dark mahogany
Lambert
sweet heart-shgaped, rich red
Royal
Ann
sweet large, golden-pink blush
Rainier
sweet large, oval, light with
blush
English Morello
sour dark red, large, juicy
Montmorency
sour light to dark red medium to large
Using Cherries:
Sweet cherries are allowed to ripen
fully on the tree. They are then hand picked, chilled, and shipped to
markets across the land. Within 24 to 48 hours they are on Americas's
tables.
Although most sweet cherries are consumed as snacks right off the stem
and most sour cherries are made into pies, cherries are a versatile
fruit. They may be canned, frozen, dried, and used in salads, meat
sauces, and drinks as well as in desserts and snacks.
Cherries should be stored in a refrigerator with as high a humidity as
possible.
For the best flavor, they should be placed unwashed in a plastic bag and
allowed to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before being eaten.
The cherry season is short---just mid-June through mid-August--but if you
remember to freeze a batch during this period you can extend the cherry season
throughout the year. Always protect cherries from dehydration.
Store in plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 14 days or freeze in
storage bags for up to 12 months.
If you freeze cherries they must be pitted first amd sealed airtight in a
plastic bag; otherwise they will taste like almonds.
Cherries are high in vitamin C, vitamin A, potsassium, and carbohydrates.
Sweet cherries contain 104 calories per cup or about 5 calories per
cherry.
On Friday afternoon, our neighbour,
John, gifted us with a big bowl of cherries that he picked ripe from his own
trees and pitted with some kind of vintage gadget. Anyway, the
cherries were delicious! In fact we couldn't believe how incredibly good
these were. I had to hurry up and get them into a pie before they were
gone; all the while singing Billy boy, Billy boy as a sort of
diversion, just to keep from eating them, and pretty soon we were all singing Billy boy, Billy boy. In harmony,
no less. And I'm still singing it. Days later...it's
one of those melodious songs that stays inside your
head for ages. There are about a dozen fun lyrics and several versions of
it. If you want to sing along, go here. Just
don't blame me if you accidentally start humming it in the super market later
and embarrass yourself like I did. For the jazzy
version listen to this. Stay
with it awhile...it gets better as it goes along.
Oh where have you been, Billy Boy,
Billy Boy?
Oh where have you been, charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife,
She's the joy of my life,
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.
Can she bake cherry pie, Billy Boy,
Billy Boy?
Can she bake cherry pie, tell me Billy.
She can bake a cherry pie,
There's a twinkle in her eye.
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.
For
more information on cherries, visit http://www.cherrymkt.org.
Hartson Dowd
hsdowd@telus.net
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