Sour Cherry Pie

Having witnessed a friend go on an exhaustive search last summer for sour cherries, it completely blew my mind to see them innocently sitting around in quart-sized boxes on two different vendor tables in my regular farmer's market. And an unforeseen benefit of buying from both vendors was getting to try two different kinds of sour cherries! (One being marginally more sour, wetter, and redder than the other.) So, blessed with two quarts of sour cherries, I made pie. I looked at this recipe for guidance on amounts of sugar and corn starch, but took out a lot of the ingredients (for instance, I love butter, but I don't see the sense in covering fresh, juicy fruit with it when it's already going to be encased in a buttery crust). 

Fruit pies are all pretty basic - if it's good, fresh fruit, there's very little that should be added to it. Lemon brings out some of the flavors and keeps fruit from oxidizing while it sits. Corn starch (or flour) is good for fruits that release a lot of juices. (So is letting those pies cool ALL THE WAY. Otherwise you get pie soup.) I use sugar very sparingly, depending on the sourness of the fruit. For sour cherries it's a bit of a requirement, but I still only used about half a cup.

One of the very best things about cooking with sour cherries? They are so very photogenic.





+lemon juice
+sugar
+corn starch

The cherries released a lot of liquid after sitting for a bit. I threw most of it out.

Lattice pie crusts are easier than they appear - just cut out strips of pie dough and weave them over the pie! It's a simple way to showcase the fruit inside, and ensures that the top crust will get a lovely crisp, flaky texture.

The sour cherries held their shape extremely well! I was very sparing with the sugar, so this pie really emphasized the sourness of the cherries, which was refreshing and delicious, but also a little overwhelming. Serving sizes should be about half a regular sweet berry pie - my first piece gave me an overload on sour cherries for a few days. But oh, so delicious! And truly amazing paired with some vanilla ice cream.