Care & Handling

Varieties
Bing: There are many commercial varieties of sweet cherries, but the leader is the Bing, a large, round, extra-sweet cherry with purple-red flesh and a deep red skin that verges on black when fully ripe.

Lambert: The second most popular variety is the Lambert, a smaller, heart-shaped red cherry similar in taste and texture to the Bing.

Rainier: The Rainier, a sweet cherry with yellow or pinkish skin, is grown in limited quantities and is milder and sweeter than the Bing.

Royal Ann: Another light-skinned variety, the Royal Ann, is often canned or made into maraschino cherries.

Selection
Buy cherries that have been kept cool and moist, as flavor and texture both suffer at warm temperatures. Take just a few cherries at a time in your hand and select only the best. If circumstances allow, taste one. Good cherries should be large (an inch or more in diameter), glossy, plump, hard, and dark colored for their variety (good Bing cherries, for example, range from a purplish-mahogany color to nearly black). Reject undersized fruits or those that are soft or flabby.

Storage
Loosely pack (to minimize bruising) unwashed cherries in plastic bags, or pour them into a shallow pan in a single layer and cover with plastic wrap. Store them in the refrigerator. Fresh cherries in good condition should keep for up to a week, but check them occasionally and remove any that have begun to go bad.

You can extend the cherry season by freezing them. Rinse and drain the cherries thoroughly, then spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer the cherries to a heavy plastic bag. They'll keep for up to 1 year. When freezing fruits, vegetables or any other food, it's a good idea to label and date the bag, that way you'll know what you have on hand and how long you've had it.

Preparation
When serving fresh cherries, simply rinse them under cold water and drain; they're most attractive with the stems intact. To pit cherries for cooking, halve them with a paring knife and pry out the pit with the tip of the knife, or use an inexpensive cherry pitter (found in any kitchenware shop), which works like a hole punch. A partially unbent paper clip (or an old-fashioned V-shaped hairpin, if you can find one) will also do the job.

If cooked for just a few minutes, sweet cherries retain their firm texture, and their flavor develops a depth and richness. Try poaching them--this gentle cooking method preserves their texture. Stem and pit the cherries, then drop them into a small amount of simmering water or a combination of water and wine (about 1 cup of liquid per 2 cups of cherries) and cook until the fruit is slightly softened and heated through--about 1 to 3 minutes. If you like, you can season the simmering water with a cinnamon stick, a little ground allspice, or even a hint of pepper.

Cherries can also be sauteed in a small amount of butter and sugar and served in crepes, atop pancakes or waffles or over frozen yogurt.