Sour Cherry Pie

I have been looking for sour cherries all summer! The dark, sweet cherries seem to show up in profusion, but I hadn't seen a single sour cherry until I went to the downtown Edmonton farmers' market last weekend.

In my opinion, sweet cherries are great for eating out of hand, but too sweet for baking. You need something tart to contrast with the sweetness and richness of a baked good.

There are lots of different types of sour cherries, but there are two main types: the Morello cherry, which is more plentiful in Europe, and the Montmorency cherry, which is the most popular sour cherry in the United States and Canada. Montmorency cherries are lighter than Morello cherries: a bold, intense red. They made for a pretty pie!


I had never made a sour cherry pie before, so I looked on the internet for measurements of sugar and thickeners. Most recipes suggested 4-5 cups of fresh, pitted cherries, a cup of sugar, and three tablespoons of a thickening agent (like cornstarch or instant tapioca). I went with about 4 cups of fresh cherries, a cup of plain white sugar, the juice of half a lemon (because I think lemon goes with everything, also to guard against the pie being too sweet), a teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extracts (how could that hurt?) and three tablespoons of instant tapioca. I went with the tapioca because sometimes I can taste added cornstarch in pies and I didn't want anything clouding the clear taste of my tart, beautiful, elusive sour cherries.


The pie turned out well. The three tablespoons of instant tapioca were a bit much; they soaked up most of the cherry liquid and hid it, slightly congealed among the cherries. I would have preferred a more juicy pie, but the extra tapioca didn't detract in a major way (and at least the pie wasn't watery, that's the worst).

The sour cherry flavor was a special treat. I like sweet cherries, but I feel sometimes that they don't adequately capture the quintessential cherry flavor we're all looking for. I think the flavor actually resides in the sweetened sour cherry; it resides in this pie.

If you'd like to try it and you find some sour cherries (Morello, Montmorency, or other), I based my recipe mostly off this recipe from Epicurious. I would recommend reducing the amount of instant tapioca by 3/4 of a tablespoon or so and adding the almond extract if you have it.