Or, in this case... a bucket. :)
We visited Eshleman Fruit Farm in Clyde, Ohio on Sunday afternoon. They're a little past Fremont (where Polter's is located) going in the same direction down Rt 20 - about 50 minutes from us. Eshleman's have been growing fruit on their family farm since 1977, after Rich Eshleman graduated from Ohio State University (Go Bucks!) with a degree in horticulture. They're mostly widely known for their peaches and apples, but they also grow cherries, plums and apricots totaling over 200 acres of orchards.
I had to do a little bit of reading up on the difference between sweet cherries and tart (or sour) cherries. Prior to this trip, the only cherries I'd ever purchased/eaten were the dark Bing (sweet) cherries from the grocery store (which Craig got me into) and "pie cherries", which are typically the tart variety that often come in a can. Most people will tell you that you can only make cherry pie using tart cherries... but Smitten Kitchen begs to differ. Anyway, sweet cherries ripen a little earlier in the season (in late June) and last into mid-July, while tart cherries begin in early July and seem to have a shorter season.
Before going to any U-Pick, I like to have in mind at least a few recipes that I want to make with that particular food so I know approximately how much I want to pick. Otherwise, you're just picking aimlessly and wondering what in the world you're going to do with all that fruit. I did find some recipes I would like to try, but I knew we'd also be content with eating them plain. :)
Upon arriving, I was greeted in the "store" by a super friendly girl about my age. She gave me a bucket and directions on how to drive back to the appropriate acreage for cherry picking. So cute how they've made narrow dirt roads amidst their orchards and have named them with homemade signs: "First", "Main", "Third", etc. Don't worry... I stopped my car to take this picture and there were no other cars around. I don't photograph anything while driving - LOL. You could walk (I saw someone on a bike) but it would be a bit of a hike out there.
So you just park right out there in one of the side rows. This was just off of "Third" - haha. :)
And then you pick any row of trees to start within that designated acreage. Unlike strawberry picking, where each u-picker begins near a marked flag and then moves his or her flag down as far as they picked to let someone else know where to begin, this was just basically every man for himself. :) I saw this sign on one row so we walked down a few trees and started there.
Rows of trees.
There are several varieties of sweet cherries. I don't know all the names but there are generally two shades of color. These lighter ones that are about the shade of maraschino cherries...
...and the dark ones that we most often see in the store. Both are very good and I'm not enough of a connoisseur to taste the difference. I think one is supposed to be sweeter.
You can see the trees are fairly short - "dwarf trees" they call them - and heavy bearing. Some cherries were out of my reach but most were within and quite a lot were within the kids' reach too.
Not the best pic of Will - he was about to blink - but this is our tiny Nikon pocket camera, which I almost never use because it takes eons to actually snap the picture. Anyway, see how low the branches are?
Sophie picking.
A blurry pic of Sophie's prize.
Both kids wanted to eat right away but I had to warn them about the pit so they only really got one or two each while we were picking. Too much of a hassle to remove the pit out there.
In the end, we only really picked a little over 4# and I'm wishing we'd picked more. That bucket holds 10# and there is a price break when you pick more than 10#.
When I got back to the store to pay for our cherries I handed the lady my credit card. I'd checked in advance that they accept credit cards and so I didn't bring my check book and I hardly ever carry cash. Well their card machine was down that day and I had no other way to pay for these. (Stupid, stupid me!) The nice girl from earlier asked if I could just come back to pay for them later (she was going to let me leave with them and take my word) but I told her I lived 50 minutes away and it might be a little difficult for me to return in a timely manner. So guess what! She just said "You're okay... I'll cover you." Can you believe that? I told her that was very kind but I couldn't just take them without paying. She insisted that I hadn't picked that much and she didn't mind covering me out of her own pocket. So I asked her to please weigh them and tell me how much I'd owe (it was ~$10) because I was definitely coming back for peaches in August, if not before, and I promised to bring her money back then. Her name was Allison and I am just amazed at how kind and hospitable she was.
So! I will definitely be returning! :) I was planning to anyway, but now I've given my word.
Yum. This was a really great dinner treat!
Looking forward to another visit to Eshleman's later this summer!
I had to do a little bit of reading up on the difference between sweet cherries and tart (or sour) cherries. Prior to this trip, the only cherries I'd ever purchased/eaten were the dark Bing (sweet) cherries from the grocery store (which Craig got me into) and "pie cherries", which are typically the tart variety that often come in a can. Most people will tell you that you can only make cherry pie using tart cherries... but Smitten Kitchen begs to differ. Anyway, sweet cherries ripen a little earlier in the season (in late June) and last into mid-July, while tart cherries begin in early July and seem to have a shorter season.Before going to any U-Pick, I like to have in mind at least a few recipes that I want to make with that particular food so I know approximately how much I want to pick. Otherwise, you're just picking aimlessly and wondering what in the world you're going to do with all that fruit. I did find some recipes I would like to try, but I knew we'd also be content with eating them plain. :)
Upon arriving, I was greeted in the "store" by a super friendly girl about my age. She gave me a bucket and directions on how to drive back to the appropriate acreage for cherry picking. So cute how they've made narrow dirt roads amidst their orchards and have named them with homemade signs: "First", "Main", "Third", etc. Don't worry... I stopped my car to take this picture and there were no other cars around. I don't photograph anything while driving - LOL. You could walk (I saw someone on a bike) but it would be a bit of a hike out there.
So you just park right out there in one of the side rows. This was just off of "Third" - haha. :)
And then you pick any row of trees to start within that designated acreage. Unlike strawberry picking, where each u-picker begins near a marked flag and then moves his or her flag down as far as they picked to let someone else know where to begin, this was just basically every man for himself. :) I saw this sign on one row so we walked down a few trees and started there.
Rows of trees.
There are several varieties of sweet cherries. I don't know all the names but there are generally two shades of color. These lighter ones that are about the shade of maraschino cherries...
...and the dark ones that we most often see in the store. Both are very good and I'm not enough of a connoisseur to taste the difference. I think one is supposed to be sweeter.
You can see the trees are fairly short - "dwarf trees" they call them - and heavy bearing. Some cherries were out of my reach but most were within and quite a lot were within the kids' reach too.
Not the best pic of Will - he was about to blink - but this is our tiny Nikon pocket camera, which I almost never use because it takes eons to actually snap the picture. Anyway, see how low the branches are?
Sophie picking.
A blurry pic of Sophie's prize.
Both kids wanted to eat right away but I had to warn them about the pit so they only really got one or two each while we were picking. Too much of a hassle to remove the pit out there.
In the end, we only really picked a little over 4# and I'm wishing we'd picked more. That bucket holds 10# and there is a price break when you pick more than 10#.
When I got back to the store to pay for our cherries I handed the lady my credit card. I'd checked in advance that they accept credit cards and so I didn't bring my check book and I hardly ever carry cash. Well their card machine was down that day and I had no other way to pay for these. (Stupid, stupid me!) The nice girl from earlier asked if I could just come back to pay for them later (she was going to let me leave with them and take my word) but I told her I lived 50 minutes away and it might be a little difficult for me to return in a timely manner. So guess what! She just said "You're okay... I'll cover you." Can you believe that? I told her that was very kind but I couldn't just take them without paying. She insisted that I hadn't picked that much and she didn't mind covering me out of her own pocket. So I asked her to please weigh them and tell me how much I'd owe (it was ~$10) because I was definitely coming back for peaches in August, if not before, and I promised to bring her money back then. Her name was Allison and I am just amazed at how kind and hospitable she was.
So! I will definitely be returning! :) I was planning to anyway, but now I've given my word.I'm telling you what... there are some really, really beautiful farm lands in Ohio and some of the nicest people on Earth reside on them. I just love driving way out on these country roads, meeting new people and seeing the hard work they put into this livelihood and passion. You really learn to appreciate good food and respect the farmers who grow it.
I mentioned previously that we swung by Polter's again to see if they had some ready-picked strawberries we could buy since we were out. It was only about six minutes away from Eshleman's heading in the direction of home and the GPS took us on a couple of single-lane roads to get there! I pointed that out to Will and he thought it was so funny. :)
Back at home, I pitted some of the cherries for our dinner that night. For some reason, I registered for a cherry/olive pitter for our wedding (from Pampered Chef) and I'm so glad I did. At the time, I'd never really used one before, but I have loved this baby over the last six years for sweet cherries and kalamata olives.
Yum. This was a really great dinner treat!
Looking forward to another visit to Eshleman's later this summer!
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