Cherries : In early springtime, the sun warms the earth and thousands of scents come to life. In the fields, from Mont-Ventoux to the Vaucluse Hills and the Luberon range, nature stirs, shaking off its winter indolence. And to celebrate the awakening, the cherry trees are already dressed and ready to go. Carefully lined up in graceful rows, they explode into a thousand white flowers. Towards mid-May, green and red take over, as the sunshine quickly deepens the color and gorges the fruit with juicy flesh. Then things start getting busy under the trees in the cherry orchards. Triangular ladders are unfolded, and baskets hung from a hook on the top rung. Pickers disappear into the leafy depths of the tree as the baskets slowly fill with the scarlet hearts, tender and crunchy, full of juice and sugar. Cherries are enjoyed straight from the tree, or they can be added to fruit salads, turned into jam, or fill a cake, a pie, or a “clafoutis”. Many orchards produce cherries for the candied fruit makers. And of course cherries are divine in savory preparations, enhancing quail or duck. No matter what the destination of the delicious cherry, take advantage of the all-too-short cherry season, when the weather is warm and the days are long... le temps des cerises !

THE fruit