Frozen bursting flavour explosion, Batman!

One of my favourite parts of going up to the Okanagan in the summertime is the fresh fruit.  Not only does it taste better because it ripens on the tree (rather than off the tree like most of the stuff we get in Vancouver), but it's so cheap!  The only predicament is how to make all this yumminess last.  The solution?  Freeze it! 

I grew up in the Okanagan and my Dad used to bring the cherries home by the beer flat.  To make sure all went to good use, my Mom would freeze the cherries so we could eat them after the season was over.  The trick is to freeze them individually so they don't stick together.  The other trick is to not let them thaw fully before you eat them.  If you do, they get all mushy.  If you let them thaw a bit, you get the juiciness of the cherry but it's still firm.  A bowl of these after dinner is better than any popsicle in my books!

My 10 pound box of cherries ($20) and apricots ($2) from a fruit stand in Keremeos.

 

Freezing in progress!  To freeze the cherries individually, first wash, dry and de-stem your cherries.  Then, lay a sheet of wax paper in your freezer.  Place the cherries on the wax paper so there's a bit of space between each one.  Once the cherries are fully frozen, place them into a freezing bag of your choice.  My Mom used to always use old bread bags.  Probably not the best for freezer burn but, trust me, these won't last long enough to get a burn!