Truly Scrumptious - Sun-dried Rainier Cherries

Yum, yum, yum! My favorite food this week has to be sun-dried Rainier Cherries from Cipponeri Family Farms.

I was meeting a friend for lunch yesterday at Greens in Fort Mason, San Francisco and when I got there, there was a farmers' market.  As I wandered around, what first caught my eye were unpasturized almonds - meaning that, unlike the majority of almonds - these are truly raw.  Even those you buy that are labelled "raw" tend to have been steam pasteurized and thus have lost some of their micronutrient content.  I did buy some almonds, but haven't even tried them yet.  Maybe they will be next week's "truly scrumptious"?

But as I went down the line of nuts and dried fruits at this stand, I spotted the rainier cherries.  I've never seen dried Rainiers before...and they had some samples. Gosh, their texture is still a little moist and "spongy" - not too dry,  and so vibrant in flavour.  They have some tartness - but it balances nicely with a little sweetness.

I can see that I am going to have to call in to that particular Farmer's market regularly to keep up a good stock of these!

I guess the only thing that would have improved them was if they were organic and didn't use sulphur dioxide.....but I did ask them about their pesticide use etc.

What was your favorite taste this week?