Season’s best cherries

At their sweetest and most jewel-like from the end of June, summer’s short cherry season is reason for cheer. The fruit grows particularly well in Kent’s sandy soil, and buying from the likes of Roughway Farm roughwayfarm.co.uk is good value when considering quality and bulk (1.25kg, £13.30). River Cottage’s Gill Meller is a fan: ‘A basket of dark sweet cherries is always a pleasure. Dealing with the harvest is a craft and underpins everything seasonal cookery represents. I relish the glut as an excuse to stock the pantry with big batches of cherry jam – tannined and honeyed and perfect on buttered toast. It lends itself to puddings, too. My cherry bakewell tart has become a family favourite and an indulgent cherry, chocolate and rosemary cake is hard to resist.’