The Full Circle Gardener: In the Kitchen: Evan's Cherry Pie

My husband has a passionate desire to grow trees, especially warm climate fruit trees. After we bought our home, he almost immediately began to research cherry and peach trees trying to find a variety that could be grown in zone 4. He found the Evan's (aka Bali) Cherry tree, which was developed in Canada, and decided he had to have it! It had just been introduced to the US market at the time and was hard to find, but it has now been seven years since he planted two trees in our backyard. We have had a very small crop for a couple of years due to poor pollination (bad timing of flowering), and birds who love to eat the bright red fruit. Finally this year we were able to harvest enough fruit to make a pie! :D

I looked at several recipes before deciding to combine a couple and make my own version. The result looked beautiful! As for taste, we thought it had the perfect balance of sweet and sour cherry. Give it a try and see what you think. :)

You will need to first harvest, clean and cool the fruit. Once the fruit is cool, remove the pit. (We purchased a cherry pitter that was worth every cent! It quickly and efficiently removes the pits and was easy task for little helpers.) Be aware that the flesh of the cherries will oxidize and turn brown once exposed to the air so freeze or use them quickly.

Evan's Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

1 c sugar (divided)
3 Tbs corn starch
1/2 c reserved cherry juice
4 c pitted cherries
1 drop red food coloring (optional)
2 9" pie crusts
1/4 c crystallized sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Drain and squeeze cherries to obtain about ½ c of juice and pour into a medium saucepan. Combine 3/4 c sugar and the cornstarch. Stir into the cherry juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

3. Remove from heat and gently stir in the remaining sugar, the cherries and optional red food coloring.

4. Pour filling into crust lined 9 inch pie plate. Carefully cover with the top crust, seal and vent.

5. Bake 45 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning.