Rainier Cherries! When I met The Mister, he was ‘in the produce business’. Not in the grocery store; he ran the operations in the warehouse that received truck loads of produce from the fields of Colorado (corn and peaches), Arkansas (peaches), Texas (watermelon, grapefruit), California (crops too numerous to mention) and other places, depending on the season.
He introduced me to Rainier Cherries. He discovered them when he worked in produce houses in the beautiful state of Washington. I discovered them the first summer we knew each other, when he brought home a case of ‘Rainiers’ from work one July day. A case holds 16 pounds. I think we ate the whole case in about a week.
The next week, we ate another case…
Rainier cherries are the last seasonal food (in my world, anyway...). Of course, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables are better if purchased locally 'in season', but I do not know of any other food that is available for such a short time. I have had them from Chile in May (for Mother’s day?) and once for a week in June, we had California grown 'Raniers'. Neither region produces the huge sweet yellow and pink cherries like the ones grown in Washington.
The Mister and I honeymooned the first week of August in 1999. We ate the last of that season’s Raniers while boating around the Lake of the Ozarks. Every year as soon as the first cherries come into the grocery store, I start eating them by the handful. Even though the price often ‘shocks’ the checker at the grocery stores, (at first, the newer ones always ask, “you know these are more than the red ones, right?”), I buy them two or three pounds at a time.
My only hope is to eat until I am sick of them so that I can make it through the next 10 ½ months until the next Rainier cherry season!
It is a sad dependency, but I have no choice…
10 comments:
Oh MY those look good!!!!!!! Enjoy them! Can you preserve them somehow?
I had Rainier cherries today, too, and mine were probably a lot cheaper purchased from a roadside truck -- just one of the many perks of living in Washington.
And I never never ever never get sick of them. They are still in our stores. Lucky me.
Hmmmm. I always go for the dark, less expensive cherries. Must try these! They look so good!
I remember having those after your wedding and also those wonderful "donut peaches." I saw them in the store yesterday at $1 ea, and would have bought a couple if I did not already have the makings for peaches and cream with chocolate chip cookies! (eat your heart out!!)Love, WS
First off, I had cherries on my shopping list, but my mistake did not specify and ended up with the 'red' ones, so I will have to go myself and get the awesome ones that you guys got me hooked on!
Second, really, ten years already! I was trying to remember your anniversary the other day and kept talking myself out of it being close to ten years already!
-Becca
I had Rainier cherries too over the weekend but they were red. But so delicious! We have your cherries here too, but here they call them Queen Anne's. I've not tried them. Are they sweeter or more sour than the red ones?
What I meant to say was I assume that "Rainier" is the region they come from, right?
I have seen those cherries in the store before and just thought there was something wrong with them. Hmmm, now I'm gonna have to try them, and I'll probably get hooked, and it will be another story we can tell our Grandkids (if I ever get any)!
ooooo, yum. I bet having them only around in a particular season makes them even more delicious. There's something so good about a delicacy, that even the most delicious "all-year-round" fruit just can't compete with.
Good luck during your wait. :)
Post a Comment