Blood on my hands

For two Sunday’s in a row we were greeted at the gate of my family’s country home in Navelli by a tree a blaze with cherries. I don’t know the exact species but when you have four buckets of fresh, organic (we do absolutely nothing to the tree) cherries just two steps up a ladder, you don’t really care about the name of the tree. I am not a gardener or farmer –– the very thought of taking care of a garden or having a little farm makes me want to hide in bed.  But, when cherries are calling out to you like that…..   Well, there is nothing to do, but put on some old clothes and started picking

As Emily rode her bike and chased farm cats, Sofia read under the pines, and Linda cared for her wide-blossomed roses, I picked cherries that were so ripe handfuls came off without their stems.  Within fifteen minutes, my arms and hands were so sticky that I was taking breaks to rinse the sugar build up off.  When I was done picking, I had four buckets of ripe Apennine Mountain cherries and I looked like a doctor in a Mel Brooks film. 

The problem, of course, with any abundance of fruit, was what to do with it.   By nightfall we had eaten enough to last us a year. A few Tupperware containers full went to friends and family. So, I tried to make a marmellata (marmalade). Fania, my sister-in-law, is the real expert on this, simple but long process of making topping for ice cream or yoghurt or to spread on toast. The recipe calls for melting down (but not boiling) sugar in a few tablespoons of water.  The amount of sugar you use is  in exact proportion to cherries (1lb cherries to one pound of sugar).   Just before the sugar starts to brown, you throw in the well-rinsed and dried cherries and bring the mixture to a slow boil, stirring periodically until the juice around the cherries no long rolls down a wooden cutting board. Fania and I prefer putting in as little as a quarter the amount of sugar (you can always add it in later), which means that the boiling process takes longer because you have to wait until the cherries’ own sugar kicks in.  If you want you can add cherry liquor, amaretto or limoncello.  Spices, especially cinnamon, can make a nice addition to the marmellata, as well. 

(actually this all happened in June;-)