I absolutely LOVE cherries. Artificial cherry flavour has a bad reputation, but it’s my absolute favourite fake flavour (lollipops, jello, popsicles). I love fresh cherries even more than fake ones and nothing says summer to me more than cherries. Growing up in Vancouver meant that summertimes were made for road-tripping it down to the Okanagan Valley to pick fruit at all the U-Pick orchards.
Sometimes my whole extended family would go on a camping trip together, but my favourite times were when it was just the four of us, me, my mom and dad, and Kevin. We’d pack a tent, bring some buckets and live the fruit picking life for a couple of weeks. No TV, no phones (smart phones didn’t exist back then!), just the stars, the barbecue and massive fruit orchards.
My dad would insist on driving around to all the orchards to find the best u-pick price. My mom would be more concerned about the quality of fruit and whether or not pesticides were used. Kevin and I would just be itching to get out of the van. Fruit picking is a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. Still, we were pretty quick about the whole thing – the ladder would come out, trees would be climbed, fruit would be picked. On our way home, our little van would be packed to the brim full of peaches, cherries and apricots. After the long and winding drive, we’d invite our family and friends over to help themselves to the free fruit stand we’d set up in our backyard. Those trips were always my favourite part of summer.
Sadly, I haven’t gone to pick cherries in a long time now. Happily though, my Whole Foods carries locally sourced BC cherries. I partnered up with them today to bring you this post and a giveaway! Whole Foods is giving away a $50 gift card to one lovely reader.
To enter: please leave a comment below with your favourite childhood summer food memory. Giveaway ends on July 22nd at 12AM PST. Open to US or Canadian residents only. Winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Good luck!
UPDATE: Yay! Cindy M, get ready to go shopping because you just won a $50 Whole Foods gift card! Congrats!
Easy Pistachio Cherry Tart Recipe
makes 9 tarts
- 1/2 sheet store bought puff pastry, thawed
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons honey, or to taste
- 14 cherries, halved and pitted
- 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
Cut the puff pastry into 9 equal pieces and poke all over with fork so they don’t puff too much in the oven. Bake according to the package. While the puff is baking, whip together the ricotta, cream cheese and honey until fluffy and smooth. Adjust to taste. When the puff is ready, cool and if needed, flatten slightly so the cherries have a nice level plane to sit on. When cool, spread with ricotta mix, top with cherry halves and chopped pistachios. Enjoy!
My dad has a passion for caring for the trees in our backyard, and as a result the peaches on his tree were absolutely heavenly. I remember summer afternoons playing outside and picking a warm fuzzy peach and biting into it and juice bursting out all over my clothes and hands.. still haven’t found peaches that good anywhere else.
When I was growing up, each summer my entire family from Florida, Maryland and North Carolina would spend a week at the beach. I always looked forward to the bright red tomatoes that my grandfather brought from his garden for all of us to enjoy. There is just something about a fresh tomato sandwich in the summer that brings me back to those times at the beach celebrating with food and family.
As a child, anytime I had the opportunity to bake with my grandmother, “Dot” that became my top priority! In the summertime after she was done assembling her pies, the fun began! There was always enough dough leftover for cookies! We would roll the dough once again but, this time we added butter, cinnamon, sugar and slivered almonds, anything we could find in the pantry! It became a fun scavenger hunt and the cookies always had a chewy yet flaky consistency which made for an excellent snack!
I remember being able to visit a friend, we were about 6 years old. Her family had a giant trove of raspberries bushes, and the raspberries were perfectly ripe. I can remember picking the ripe raspberries with the sun shining so brightly, and the fragrance of all those raspberries, and the sounds of summer all around and children’s laughter in the air. Then her mom made us a bowl of cream and raspberries. It was soo good, from picking them and then eating them still warm from the sun.
My mom used to make us slushies using lime juice concentrate and ice cubes. It was probably full of corn syrup but oh so delish. However the best are BLTs with fresh tomatoes from the garden!
My mother would always pick strawberries and then make a fresh strawberry pie. The best!
I remember summers blackberry picking near our house, which was surrounded by wild blackberry bushes. We made enough jam to last the rest of the year.
I remember being little and going to the Upick to get fresh Strawberries! My mom would make mini strawberry shortcakes.
One of my favorite summer food memories was mum making “snowballs”. These were made of sweetened cottage cheese and raisins then rolled into balls the size of golf balls and frozen.
Eating juicy, sweet, sun-warmed apricots plucked from the tree right outside my grandmother’s back door. Best. Apricots. Ever.