CHERRIES
Life really is a bowl of cherries in June. Catalunya’s abundance of this lovely stone fruit came about as a kind of agricultural Plan B after a 19th-century plague of phylloxera destroyed so many of the grape vines. These days many of the popular varieties are bred in line with the growing trend for larger, darker and sweeter cherries, consequently ousting the old indigenous varieties such as the Bord.
In the market, look out for a cherry that has the stem still attached and is heavy for its size, meaning that it will have plenty of juice and be fleshy and sweet. Tart cherries should be firm, plump, and bright scarlet. Avoid cherries that are hard, small and lighter in colour because they were probably picked before they were ripe. Also avoid soft or sticky cherries with a dull cast and puckered skin since they are probably overripe and will cause fruits in the bowl to rot too.
Since cherries are delicate and easily bruised, store them in a wide, shallow bowl to help distribute the weight. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel to allow for air circulation and keep them from drying out. As with all berries, do not wash them until you are ready to use them and store them in the coldest part of your refrigerator—remember that cherries can decay more in one hour at room temperature than they can in 24 hours at 0ºC.
Apart from eating the delicious red fruit straight from the bowl, other simple ways to enjoy them include poached cherries as a topping for ice cream or cheesecake, or pitted, halved and then lightly pushed into the top of a basic sponge cake or coca mixture before baking. --NF
FIGS
June’s temperament is embodied by the early figs, brevas (figaflor in Catalan), which should be appearing on the stalls from now till late July. The cool green skin of earliest varieties reflect the still fresh mornings; its aromatic, blushing pink flesh suggests sultry sunsets. Most examples sold here come from the Levante: Valencia, Murcia and Alicante. The most popular varieties are the Goina and the Colar. The latter is rated more highly for its larger, plumper size and shape. The skin colour can range from green to dark purple, depending on species and maturity. For once, broken skins and signs of over-ripeness are what you should be looking for: wrinkles and bursting flesh show the fruit is at its melt-in-the-mouth best. Avoid ones that look so ripe they're rotten, though, as well as anything flattened and dried out or with hard and unyielding flesh. For a quick dessert make a simple sugar syrup by boiling two parts sugar with one part water. Remove from the heat and add the juice of an orange and a lime to taste. Leave to cool then pour over slices of breva. --TS
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