I recall a photograph of a mass of cherry trees in a village nearby my childhood home. There wasn’t a single tree remaining as I grew up. Which isn’t surprising as the country has lost a vast majority of its cherry orchards over the last fifty years. Kent alone has lost 85 per cent of its orchards.
Step forward Henrietta Green of FoodLoverBritain and a campaign – Cherry Aid – that aims to Get everyone to bite into at least one British-grown Cherry this year, Save our remaining traditional Cherry orchards and plant new ones, and encourage chefs, restaurateurs and home-cooks to use British-grown Cherries.
The campaign culminates in National Cherry Day which is tomorrow, 19th July.
On National Cherry Day Henrietta will be at Borough Market, sampling the specially-made Cherry Down Cheese from the Kent Cheese Co from Sillfield Farm stall, who will also be selling their Wild Boar & Cherry pie. Turnips and E & A Sugarman will be selling fresh English cherries from their stalls, so make sure you pick up a bag as you go past and Utobeer will be doing a sampling of British cherry beer.
Elsewhere Food Inc in Whiteleys will have fresh cherries and a range of cherry-based products to buy; The Ludlow Food Centre in Shropshire will be selling traditional variety cherries and cherry ice cream.
Other events can be seen on the Cherry Aid page.
