Sour cherry

Griotte

What it is

Prunus cerasus is a species apart from the sweet cherry, a natural hybrid carrying far more malic acid, which is why it survives sugar and alcohol instead of vanishing into them. The clafoutis of the Limousin is made with the stones left in — never a rustic oversight, but the source of the almond note that comes up during baking.

In the kitchen

For a sauce with duck or hare, give the cherries no more than three minutes in the deglazed pan; longer and they go grey and slack. Sugar them only at the end, once you have tasted the acidity you actually have.

Goes with

Kirsch Duck Dark chocolate Almond Foie gras Red wine vinegar Cinnamon Vanilla

Same species

Bergeron apricot Almond Almond flour Almond oil Amardine Amarena cherry in syrup

Also used with

Maraschino liqueur

In season alongside

Haskap Gooseberry Plum Redcurrant Tamarillo Apricot

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