Berry easy

Photo credit: Yahoo Images

With berry season upon us, now is the perfect opportunity to preserve some of the bounty for the cold months.  The easiest way to do this is by freezing.

Freezing is simple, simple, simple.  Wash the berries and let them dry.  Put them on a baking sheet and stick them in the freezer.  Later on, transfer the fruit to freezer-safe containers.  That’s it.  Next winter, you’ll have fruit galore to bake muffins and pies and add to your oatmeal and more.

Now is also the time to preserve cherries.  In Charlottesville, the pick-your-own places have cherries now (this is earlier than usual), but you should also be able to find cherries at the farmers’ market and other places.  C’ville Market has local cherries in stock now too.

Freezing cherries is almost as easy as berries — the only difference is that you’ll need to remove the pits first.  I worked through two pounds in about 30 minutes yesterday and will be doing more today.

Yes, this is a tiny bit of work — and yes cherries are a wee bit messy — but the pay-off will come several months from now on a chilly morning in October when I’ll make oatmeal and stir in cherries for a burst of flavor.  Mmmmmmmm…

Another way my family eats cherries is this simple cake recipe, which has been in the family for almost 50 years:

Cherry Cake

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teas. baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/8 teas. salt
• 1/2 teas. flavoring (almond or vanilla extract)
• cherries (1-2 cups frozen or one can of comstock)
• powdered sugar

Instructions

• Heat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
• Grease 8 x 8″ pan.
• Mix all ingredients except cherries and powdered sugar.
• Pour battered into pan.
• Add cherries on top.
• Bake 30-35 minutes.
• Sift powdered sugar (to taste) on top and serve warm.

Enjoy!