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Two cherry ice cream recipes - one from the Batch family, one from me. I'm sitting here with my mouth stained red, and my fingers purple. My teeth, lips, fingernails, and cuticles all look like I've been hanging out in someone's berry patch. The tiny red splatters on my cheeks add a nice touch as well. I don't know what to say - It isn't everyday that you get a 5-pound box of the worlds most perfect Bing cherries delivered to your front door. Five pounds of perfect cherries, and not a bad one in the lot - I looked!

The cherries came from family-run Batch's Best Fruit in Manson, Washington and they are only available for a few short weeks each year. You may have read about these cherries in past issues of Saveur and Bon Appetit and I'm telling you - forget sending flowers or chocolates the next time you are in the dog house, send cherries. I laughed when Greg Batch told me he had a daughter named Ruby - of course he does.

The Batch orchard is located on a high bench in the hills above Lake Chelan, 350 miles from the nearest city. The elevation and the 55-mile long, 1500-foot deep lake create a unique micro-climate, and warm days and cool nights equal cherries that are crunchier and sweeter than most. Every single cherry is picked by hand from their small orchard of twelve acres. The cherries are very fragile so they have to be picked in a short time and handled gently. Freshly picked cherries are carefully placed in foam-lined buckets(!), and shipped later that same day. The harvest day starts at 5 a.m., when there is just enough light to see. Cherries are picked until around noon, because as the sun gets hotter, the cherries get softer....and well, that can be messy. Before packing, the Batch crew drenches the cherries in water from Lake Chelan and cools the cherries to 34 degrees. This quick chill - again, helps to keep the cherries desirably crisp and juicy. They are sorted, packed, boxed and shipped.

I received one of their last shipments of Bing's. The Lapins ship next week, and if you are quick, there is still time to get onboard with the Sweethearts (they will be taking orders until this Thursday, the 14th). These cherries have nothing in common with supermarket fruits that have been picked long before their prime - before the natural sweetness of the fruit has been allowed to develop. If you've only ever tasted is a mass market cherry, treat yourself to a box of these - it will change the way you think about these plump, little, red gems.

I asked Greg if there were any interesting factoids he could tell this city girl about growing cherries, eating cherries, or living a life amongst cherries. One funny thing he told me was that when it rains, they really worry. If cherries that are nearly ripe get too wet, water settles in the bowl around the stem. Too much water will cause them to split. To dry the trees after a rain - get this....they contract with a helicopter pilot who flies slowly over the orchard to dry the trees. Fortunately it doesn't rain too much in Eastern Washington, so it is good cherry-growing country.

The dreaded cherry stain is also no match for the Batch family, and they tipped me off to their secret stain-stripping ingredient. To get cherry stains out of cotton shirts, soak the stain in cold water, then wring out. Squeeze fresh lemon juice directly on it and let it sit for 30 minutes. Wash as usual.

While many people have robust farmer's markets in their communities, others don't. Even if you have a farmer's market or road-side farm stand(s) in your community you may not have the SELECTION of locally grown produce that you are after. Not everyone can get cherries locally. One of the coolest things about small growers utilizing the reach of the internet is it gives people the option to still buy beautiful, farm-direct produce even if they can't get say cherries, citrus, etc, farm-direct in their own communities.

So, what to do with 5 pounds of perfect cherries? We ate a pound, I took a pound to share with friends when I went out yesterday, I'm saving a pound (or so) for tomorrow when I will need them to lure people to the garage sale we are having. I used some of the remainder to make cherry ice cream. Coincidentally, Greg Batch and his family have also been busy making cherry ice cream up in Washington, and he was nice enough to share his family recipe with me as well. I'll include both recipes below.

If you want to win someone over big-time, or if you just want to treat yourself - it's not too late to place an cherry order. I'll let you know down the line when more of Batch's Best is available.

Batch Family Mountain Cherry Choconut Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups sliced Bing, Lapin or Sweetheart cherries
1 pint whipping cream
1 pint half and half
2 egg yolks (hs note: to eliminate risk of food poisoning from raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs product for this recipe)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup shaved dark chocolate (or to taste)

Whisk whipping cream, half and half, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add cherries and stir. Chill mixture for 30 minutes in freezer. Pour into ice cream maker canister. Run machine until mixture reaches milkshake consistency. Add almonds and chocolate and mix until they're incorporated. Continue running machine until ice cream reaches desired consistency.

My Basic Cherry Ice Cream

This ice-cream isn't overly sweet and is packed with big. juicy cherry chunks. It has a honey finish and tastes best the same day it is made.

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup honey (light flavored honey is best for this recipe)
3/4 pounds Bing, Lapin, or Sweetheart cherries, pitted and torn into chunks
3 tablespoons cherry liquor or cherry brandy or Amaretto

Place cream, milk, and honey in a medium saucepan. Stir to dissolve the honey. Heat over low to moderate heat, stirring from time to time, until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Be careful not to heat to a full-out boil.

Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Add the chopped cherries and liquor. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled. Don't skimp here or your ice-cream might not set up.

Stir the mixture again to blend and transfer it to an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions and eat the same day.

Makes 1 quart.

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