(serves 6): 60 g butter, 100 g sugar, 4 egg yolks, 65 g ground almonds, 3 small buns (cut into small pieces and soaked in milk), 4 egg whites, 1 pinch of ground cinnamon, 1 kg black sweet cherries, butter for the mould, 2 tbsp almond slivers.
Make butter until fluffy; add 80 g sugar, egg yolks, ground almonds, cinnamon and rolls and mix until fluffy. Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until firm and gently fold into the batter. Add the pitted cherries and pour the mixture into a large, ovenproof, buttered dish. Sprinkle with the almond slivers and bake in an oven preheated to 150 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Serve lukewarm and without additions - either after a summer stew or as a sweet main course.
Ockstadt cherries
When Lucullus brought cherries from Asia Minor to Rome, the sensation should not have been so great, because they had been known for a long time. The wild cherries, which had been widespread since time immemorial, anyway; moreover, Etruscan fruit growers had already been engaged in their cultivation. Nevertheless, Northeast Asia is regarded as the original home of the cherry, and some species unknown in Rome, probably a grafted sweet cherry, was planted by Lucullus in the garden of his villa near Pompeii. Where Pliny the Elder got to see them and reported about it.
Whether already the Romans brought the cherry culture to the Wetterau? For this, Dr. Werner Schaaf, the long-time head of the Office of Agriculture in Friedberg, has no evidence. More exact one knows only since 200 years about the Wetterauer cherries.
On the Taunus slope and well protected from cold winds like late frost, the cherry trees stand in Ockstadt since always, nevertheless, despite the meager soil, the microclimate is obviously particularly favored to the prospering of the cherries. Even if the good soils were used for agriculture, the fruit cultures were by no means secondary. Rather, they were important for the peasant economy: it was not uncommon for the sale of cherries to bring the first cash income of the year into the house.
Around 16,000 cherry trees once blossomed in the "Kirschenberg" of the Ockstadt district at springtime and offered a beguiling sight. In the course of the last few years, around 11,000 trees have been added, albeit small ones that can be planted more densely and harvested more easily. The lion's share of the fruit, however, still grows on high trunks, which are now cut at a height of about six metres. This means that you can reach everywhere with the 32-rung ladder, and picking is also less dangerous. To make it worthwhile, the Ockstädter defend themselves against the development of maggots in the cherries by the joint control of the cherry fruit fly: four weeks before the harvest, and with residue-free means, as is understood.
Although the sour are on the rise, especially the late morello cherries, "Ockstädter cherries" are mainly sweet cherries. The majority of those that the Dienst family cultivates, along with other fruit, are also sweet varieties, about twelve in number. Harvest time is divided by "cherry weeks"; and while the early varieties, for example Burlat, Lapinz, or Kordia, have fairly soft flesh, the later and mostly older varieties are characterized by more flavor and firmer texture, making them particularly suitable for canning.
Like Hedelfinger Kirsche, which Maria Dienst gives the top spot: the dark red fruits are the most aromatic. In Mrs Dienst` esteem follows "Kaiser Franz", also an old variety. Although it is only almost as good as the Hedelfinger, it has the advantage that one can better cope with the juice spots of this red variety.
Not to be forgotten: the "Große Schwarze Knorpelkirsche", a late, very juicy fruit, and for this very reason particularly well suited for "Bettelmann". Despite its name, it tastes regal, this substantial cherry cobbler from Alsace, where things have always been a bit more lush.
Obsthof Familie Dienst
Friedberger Str. 62
61169 Friedberg-Ockstadt
Phone: 06031 / 2469
Fax: 63336
Sale ex yard by tel. Agreement; Saturdays: Frankfurt, Bauernmarkt Konstabler Wache.
from Waldemar Thomas