Wednesday, July 11th, 2018
The local cherry season began exactly one week ago. There are few cherry orchards left in Kent, but there is one about half a mile down the road from here. The season normally lasts for four or five weeks as different varieties ripen in succession. Today, when I went to buy some at about half past three, there were four punnets left. The grower’s day had been good. He commented that one customer had been in every day, buying up vast quantities with which to make jam. “Jam?”, I exclaimed, “These are far too good for jam!”. The seller agreed with me, and we discussed the best ways of consuming these plump, juicy delights. I bought three punnets and he kindly gave me the fourth one free so that he could close the gate and go home early. I made a clafouti for my supper, because that’s one of my favourite puddings, but nothing beats eating the cherries just as they are. I included some in this morning’s fruit salad (without their stones of course) and put out a bowl on the table as decoration. When I went to clear the breakfast dishes, I found that all my guests had ignored the fruit salad and gone straight for the bowl. I counted 18 stones on one guest’s plate!