The summer season brings with it the scorching heat, but at the same time, some juicy fruits that keep your body hydrated. Cherries are little fruits that are naturally sweet and extremely easy to carry around and eat. But apart from their tarty taste, they are also rich in fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, making them a must-add to your diet.
Now, the question remains: apart from eating the fruit as it is, what are some other ways of including it in your summer diet? Since the fruit has a sweet note, it is a great ingredient for desserts and coolers. From pies to slushies, cherries are just the right ingredient to add flavour to summer dishes. Here are the best ways to add cherries to your summer diet.
Cherry Chia Parfait
Cherry chia parfait combines the best of all three ingredients. The nutrients from cherries, the fibre content, the low calories from chia seeds, and the health-friendly yoghurt are all good. Plus, it’s really easy to make the parfait. You can presoak the chia seeds in yoghurt before making them and then layer them in a glass. Next, top it with pitted cherries, giving the seeds the flavour. Finally, you can add some honey and enjoy.
Cherry Pie
One of the most popular cherry recipes is a cherry pie. Boasting a crunchy crust and the tarty flavours, a cherry pie can take steal anyone’s heart away. After baking and cooling the usual pie crust, you can make a flavourful filling by mixing pitted cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. After adding the filling to the crust, bake till the crust is golden brown or you see that the cherry filling is getting bubbly. You can then slice the pie and serve it hot.
Cherry Lemonade
Lemonade is one of the essential summer beverages that one must regularly drink to beat the heat. To add a little flavour and get the nutrients from cherries, you can make a glass of cherry lemonade. All you need to do to make the cherry lemonade is to blend cherries, lemon juice, and honey with a hand blender till smooth. You can then strain to get rid of any pulp or seeds. Now, you can add chilled water and some ice cubes and sip the cherry cooler.
Black Forest Cake
Whenever you think of black forest cake, an image with chocolate cake, vanilla icing, and chopped cherries must come to your mind. Since black forest cake is incomplete with cherries, you have to make it in summer to get the most out of the tarty fruit. After baking a chocolate cake, you can mix chopped or pitted cherries with whipped cream. Then, you can layer the cake and fill the layers with the cherry cream mixture. Also, don’t forget to literally add cherries to the cake.
Cherry Jam
Another summer routine that is followed by a lot of people is making jam with seasonal fruits like mango and cherry. If you love to spread a layer of jam to your bread for breakfast or as a tasty addition to your desserts, you must make cherry jam this season. To make the jam, you need to make a cherry puree, add some lemon juice and sugar and mix all the ingredients on low flame till you get a thick consistency. You can store the jam in air-tight containers and enjoy it up to months.
Cherry Slushie
The list of summer recipes cannot end without a slushie. So, on a typical hot summer day, when you return home, you can indulge in an extremely refreshing and cool cheery slushie. You can start by blending cherries with sugar, water, and a little lemon juice. After you get a smooth mixture, you can pour it into ice trays or popsicle moulds and freeze them. Finally, you can enjoy your frozen treat any time you want.