Orchard Talk

Makes 6 servings of Cherry Bublanina or Tresnova Bublania

Prep Time:  30 minutes

Cook Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 3 large eggs divided, at room temperature

- 1 tablespoon Amaretto or other almond liqueur (optional)

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- pinch of cream of tartar

- 1 cup of all-purpose flour

- 1 pound of washed, pitted sour cherries

- confectioners’ sugar

Preparation:

1.  Place rack in center of oven and heat to 350 degrees.  Butter or lightly coat with cooking spray a 9″ x 9″ baking pan.  In a medium  bowl, cream together butter, sugar and yolks until light and fluffy.  Add liqueur, if using, and salt, mixing well.

2.  In a clean medium bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff.  Alternately fold in egg whites and flour into butter – egg mixture.

3.  Turn batter into prepared pan and scatter cherries evenly over top.  Lightly press down cherries into batter until partially covered.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cut  into 6 equal pieces.  Serve warm or cold dusted with the confectioners’ sugar.

Tags: fresh tart cherries, tart cherries, tart cherry recipes

Freshly picked Montmorency cherries

Tart Cherries: U-pick has started on tart cherries. Pick-your-own tart cherries for 85 cents per pound. Pitting is a flat $6 charge. Pick $25 worth (2 buckets) and we’ll pit them free!

King Orchards Tubs O' Tarts

We’re also putting up lots of Tubs O’ Tarts (4 cups – perfect for a pie), and 10 pound bags of pitted tart cherries. We’ll have the 10 pound bags of fresh tart cherries in both stores on a first-come-first-serve basis, or you can pre-order by phone (toll-free at 1-877-937-5464).

Sweet Cherries: U-pick is still available through this weekend. There are plenty of beautiful, delicious cherries out there. It just requires some dedication and selectivity to find the gorgeous ones.

We have a wonderful crop of Balaton tart cherries this year. Balaton cherries are a darker morello-style variety of sour cherry traditionally grown  in Hungary, near the Soviet border. The Balaton was introduced here in the U.S. by Dr. Amy Iezzoni of Michigan State University, who found it in Hungary when she was searching for new genetic resources for her tart cherry breeding program.

Balaton Tart Cherries 2009

Balaton cherries are a bit sweeter than Montmorency tart cherries (classic sour or pie cherries). They are also firmer, with darker flesh and juice. Many bakers like Balatons for their rich ‘sweet-tart’ flavor, and because they maintain their shape during cooking. They’re also great for traditional Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup (Meggyleves), Cherry Jam, and if you dare, home-made Morello Cherry Liquor, also known as Wisniowka or Vishnovka.

We have Balaton cherries for sale in both markets by the quart, in lugs or pitted in 10 pound bags. Because they’re less perishable than Montmorency tart cherries, they are also the one variety of sour cherry we can ship fresh. Give us a call toll-free at 877-937-5464 if you’d like a large order or wish to be notified when they start shipping.

Once  cherry season is over, we’ll have IQF (individually quick frozen) Balaton cherries for sale in our stores, and for shipping during the winter months.

It’s raining again this morning. When we have sweet cherries to pick rain is a real problem. The high sugar content in the cherry draws water through the skin and the cherry splits. Usually the splits are on the top around the stem or on the bottom where the drip hangs. New research on growing sweets in tunnels shows that they have a splitting problem there too. Apparently the water coming from the roots can split them too. Betsy and I toured all of our remaining sweets last night and there are lots of splits. There are still lots of good cherries and now they are big and very sweet. The Ulsters are firm too. The u-pick customer will have to spend a lot more time sorting out the split cherries, but the quality of the end product is awesome. I don’t get tired of eating sweet cherries. We had the picking crew pick without sorting this year so that when the picking was good we wold cover more ground. Then we had a sorting crew pulling out the bad ones. Today since it is raining the pickers are in here doing the sorting.

The rain will help to size the tart crop which we haven’t started yet. Because the national tart crop is very large we are considering leaving most of ours hang till the end and then having them concentrated into cherry juice instead of having them pitted and frozen. In a very large crop year the returns could be close to the same and then we would be assured that we have adequate tart cherry juice concentrate supplies for the coming months. The challenge here is that you must make your choices right now and then live with the results until next year.

There is one question everyone is asking. How long will we be able to pick sweet cherries? This year is so odd that I can’t say. My hope is that we will be able to pick through to next week end. There is a lot of fruit out there and if it stays dry the cracked cherries may dry up and the good cherries will be left for picking. Am I wishing for the impossible? If it continues to rain we will have to wait and see. Tart cherries will be into full swing come mid week. Raspberries continue to be great! All in all people are happy with there fruit and having fun. Betsy

Tags: crop report, sweet cherries, tart cherries, u-pick

Betsy and John were out checking on the tart cherries this morning. They’re still a bit orange-y, so we’re looking at 4 to 5 days before prime picking time. Picking should be fantastic by this weekend (July 24th).

We still have plenty of sweet cherries and red raspberries to pick. And we’ve opened one row of apricots for u-picking, too. The best picking on those is still to come.

Both our US-31 location in Kewadin and the M-88 farm in Central Lake are open 7 days a week.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick margarine
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 cup drained, pitted & cut up sour cherries
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda

Cream sugar & margarine. Add eggs, cherries & bananas. Mix dry ingredients together and add to first mixture. Bake in two 9″ x 4″ greased bread pans at 350° for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Tags: Cherries, cherry recipes, michigan, michigan cherries, michigan tart cherries, Recipes, tart cherry recipes, traverse city

Crop Report

Sweet Cherries:  There’s still plenty of fantastic sweet cherry picking available in both black sweet cherries and light sweet cherries (Queen Anne or Rainier cherries).

Pick your own:  $1.50 per pound
We pick: $4.50 per quart; $12.00 per 3 quarts; $30 per 8 quart flat; $36.00 per 20lb lug

Raspberries: $4.00 per pint; $7.00 for 2 pints; $24.00 per 8 pint tray (4 quarts)

Tart Cherries: We expect the tart cherries will be ready for picking by Tuesday, the 21st. It’s going to be a great year for u-pick tart cherries.

Look who we found hanging out in the sweet cherry orchard!

Gnorth the Gnome has been traveling Up North this summer, exploring all the things that make summer traveling and living in Northern Michigan great.  He’s hanging out with us here at King Orchards for a little while (if he’s still here next week, we may have to put him to work on the tart cherry shaking crew).

Take your picture with him while he’s here and enter it in Traverse Magazine’s MyNorth contest for a chance to win an “I’d rather be Up North” t-shirt.

Tags: gnorth the gnome, sweet cherries, tart cherries, traverse magazine, u-pick cherries

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar snap peas
2 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries
1 medium cucumber, halved, seeded and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup radishes, sliced
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar or Opal Basil Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

Blanch peas in boiling salted water one minute, plunge into iced water to cool. Drain. Mix cherries, cucumber, radishes, and peas. Combine remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour over cherry mixture and toss to coat. Marinate, refrigerated, at least one hour. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Ingredients:

1 rolled pork roast or a 3 to 5 pound center cut pork roast
1/3 cup fresh sage, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/3 cup fresh marjoram, chopped
1 cup cherry jam or jelly
small red potatoes, if desired

Untie string that holds roast together. Open roast carefully. Mix the three kinds of fresh herbs together in a bowl. Put herbs in the middle of the roast and retie the strings. If a center cut pork roast in used, cut 3 slits down length of roast about 1 inch deep. Stuff fresh herbs into the slits. Set roast into an oven pan and roast at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes per pound. In a small saucepan melt cherry jam or jelly and add the remaining fresh herbs. When 1 hour is left of roasting time, pour the melted jam or jelly and herb mixture over the roast. Put any potatoes that are desired in the roast at this time. Every 15 minutes, baste the roast with the jam or jelly mixture.

Tags: cherry jam, cherry recipes