Very early spring
Cornelian Cherry blossom
Above photos are of the Cornelian CherryTree blooming on April 24.
Very dainty blooms.
I will have to wait till September for the fruit.
Fruit is ovoid , the size of a small peanut and incredibly sour.
When cooked with sugar, they are quite rewarding for the first second or 2 and then you hit the oversize pit.
Cornelian cherries are like a lychee in the porpotion of flesh to pit.
Your chance of savoring the flavor is instantly interupted.
You eat another hoping the pit would be smaller.
Then you think, why not pit them before eating.
Then you realize life is too short to pit.
Then you waffle. You are seduced by the possibilities of the cranberry or ligonberry like tartness.
The culinary possibilities are endless.
A Thanksgiving sandwich with a sauce of cornelian cherries instead of cranberries.
A tart sauce for for a sundae with vanilla bean ice cream and a molten chocolate cake.
September has gone and really gone.
Once again, no time to photograph the fruit.
I did pick a cherry in early September and ate it.
Not surprisingly, it was really tart.
I decided to let the fruits ripen but when I went back to sample they had overripened and fallen on the ground.
2009 was an odd year for all plants.
Way too much rain in June and July, drought like in August and then chilly in September.
More information about the Cornelian Cherry go to Fedco Trees
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/TreeItem.php?id=3000&listname=Cornelian%20Cherry
