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While they last, celebrate fresh local cherries

Recipe: This salsa is great for summer meals and parties

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED JUN 2, 2019

Cherry salsa is delicious on grilled chicken or pork as well as with tortilla chips. Try it with chips that have a hint of lime. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

The Northern California cherry farmers were looking at a bumper crop this year, but Mother Nature had other ideas. The mid-May storms ruined 50 percent of the cherry crop just as it was ripening, according to the California Fresh Fruit Association.

However, because the season was running late this year, growers with June-ripening cherries should be in good shape, the CFFA says.

All the more reason to enjoy the cherries out there now and in the next few weeks. The Brooks and Rainier varieties give way to Bings, my personal favorite, but they all work well in this salsa recipe.

Yes, pitting cherries is messy. I like my little plunger pitter.

Fruit salsas go so well with grilled meat in the summer, but some of the salsas get too gloppy. This cherry salsa is bright and tasty, and you can give it a little more kick if you want. Set out a bowl of it with some hint-of-lime tortilla chips and watch it disappear. I've adapted this recipe from one I made several years ago for the Sacramento Bee's Food section.

Note: Pitting cherries can be a chore. I use latex gloves (to prevent finger stains) and a nifty little cherry pitter that works like a plunger. But cherries also can be pitted with just a paring knife.

Cherry salsa
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh sweet cherries, any variety or a mix, de-stemmed and pitted
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed (keep them if you like more kick in your salsa), minced
1 fresh garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions :
Halve the pitted cherries and then chop them. Place in a bowl, then stir in the lime zest and lime juice. Add the red onion, cilantro, minced jalapeño and garlic clove. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fresh ingredients make a fresh salsa. The jalapeño missed

the picture, but not the final product.

Cover the bowl and let the salsa chill in the refrigerator 45 minutes for the flavors to meld. When ready to serve, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve over grilled chicken breasts or grilled pork tenderloin, or with tortilla chips.

Variations : This salsa also is delicious with any of these mix-ins: 1 chopped ripe but firm avocado; 1 chopped white nectarine; 1 chopped ripe mango.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes gardening Sacramento farmers markets stone fruit summer produce orchard fruit cherries farm to fork rainfall

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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