SOUR CHERRIES

Sour cherries are native to East Europe and are a hybrid between the wild and the dwarf cherry.

Initially, they were cultivated along the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, but were also common among the Ancient Greeks, Persians and ancient Romans. The Ancient Romans were the ones that brought sour cherries to the area of today’s Great Britain in the 1st century A.D., where they started cultivating them around the time of Henry VIII in the 16th century.

Raw dried sour cherries are delicious on their own or they can be added to cereals and breakfast cereals. They can be used as an ingredient in fruit smoothies and they are a welcome addition to soups, pastries, cakes, ice-cream and no-bake desserts.

They go well with pork, chicken and duck meat. To bring out the flavour of the sour cherry add nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon and anise.

They are perfect with dark chocolate and almonds.

The largest growers of sour cherries are Turkey, Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

Botanically, sour cherries belong to the same family as cherries. Once there were more than 50 varieties of sour cherry, but today only a few of them are still cultivated.

Sour cherries are often used in the production of liqueurs and syrups and are added to Belgium and Czech beer varieties.