Cherries in June

There are a few weeks that tend to be around the end of May / start of June that mark the perfect time to start picking some of the fruits growing in the back garden. It usually starts with elderflower and cherries, later in the summer we start to see the apples and plums ready to be picked, and finally at the beginning of autumn is time for the olives and walnuts.

It’s always a pleasure to get our hands on the cherries as there’s so much you can do with them. The garden has 4 trees; 3 of which are some kind of sweet and sour cherry hybrid (trešnja/višnja) which makes a pretty pleasant taste experience and the other is a sour cherry (višnja) tree. Each year, the family will spend a few days picking the cherries as soon as they’re ready and ripe, and we’ll use the batch for liquor (višnje vača), jam, and if we’re lucky a cherry pie.

For the liquor, fill some jars with a mix of cherries and sugar, and leave them in the sun for around 6 weeks. Then you add homemade brandy (rakija) to the jar and leave it for a minimum of 4 weeks for everything to diffuse properly. Cherry brandy has to be one of my all-time favourite traditional drinks so it’s always a pleasure to be involved in making it!