Pit Stop: A trip to Michigan reveals the versatility of sweet-tart cherries

I love to travel for the same reasons many of you do – to experience the people, history, architecture, plants and wildlife of some place new. And then, there’s the food, which is always my favorite part.

Some examples: I spent four days in Boston and ate four lobster rolls, afraid that I would never taste anything so wonderful again. (Lobster rolls are equally good in Maine and the very best ones are from Red’s Eats, a shack on the side of the road in Wiscasset.) My friend Dottie and I scoured New Orleans for the perfect oyster po-boy and finally found just the right one at Johnny’s in the French Quarter. Fish and chips, scones, and beef pies were high on the list in England, Ireland and Scotland. In Italy, we ate bruschetta – chewy, crusty bread topped with plum tomato slices, fresh basil and olive oil – every single day for a week for an afternoon snack. And last fall in France, we sought out chocolate croissants, French onion soup and crème brulee’ to see how they measured up to my dreams.

As we headed to Michigan recently, I asked Facebook friends what iconic foods to be sure to try while there.

Cherries.

Cherry pie.

Cherries in salads, specifically a cherry, spinach and bleu cheese salad.

Fried cheese curds.

Deep-dish pizza.

Meat pie called a miner’s pasty – a folded workman’s pie.

Fish – whitefish, wall-eye and lake perch.

Mediterranean food and Greek food. Dearborn is home to the largest Arab American population in the United States and ethnic restaurants are flourishing.

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The cherry on top

After five days, I can tell you that, for us, cherries came out the clear winner in the iconic Michigan food category, although the Food Network agrees with some of my Facebook friends that the iconic dish of Michigan is pasty, a folded meat pie that traveled down into the copper mines to provide a hearty meal for miners. My husband’s mother, who grew up in Pennsylvania, also made pasty for her Scottish father, a coal miner, so pasty isn’t just a Michigan dish.

Our trip started in Dearborn so that we could visit the fascinating Henry Ford Museum. In addition to many transportation marvels, we happened to be there during the Julia Child traveling exhibit, which was the highlight for someone who loves her as much as I do. Next up was Mackinac Island, where we saw gorgeous scenery, an overabundance of tourists, and lots of fudge!

Leaving Mackinac, we headed to the Western Shore of Michigan to marvel at the houses in Harbor Springs and Petoskey. Next up was Traverse City, cherry capital of the world, and sure enough, cherries were the star of just about every restaurant. At Grand Traverse Pie, we sampled individual cherry pies made with traditional crust and with a crumb crust. Both were amazing. We passed many roadside stands selling cherries and pick-your-own fields. The region around Traverse City produces about 40 percent of the annual cherry crop in the United States.

In Glen Arbor, home of Sleeping Bear Dunes, we ate at The Cherry Republic, where just about every dish on the menu featured cherries. Chicken cubes were tossed with celery, almonds and cherries and served atop greens and tomatoes and then drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Cherry bread was thickly sliced, slathered with fig-cherry jam, filled with muenster cheese, smeared with Parmesan on the outside, and grilled into the most incredible grilled cheese sandwich imaginable.

The next morning, our innkeeper, Laura, served us fresh cherry crumble with our eggs and tomato toast for breakfast. We were totally hooked, and came home with bags of dried cherries to use in upcoming dishes, like this favorite salad from my friend Jane Tyler.

APPLE-PARMESAN-CHERRY SALAD

Serves 8 to 10

For the dressing

3 green onions, cleaned and trimmed

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon poppy seed

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup canola oil

For the salad

2 Romaine hearts, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 crisp apples, unpeeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup cashews or toasted chopped pecans (I prefer toasted pecans)

½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

To make the dressing: Combine all the ingredients except for the oil in a food processor. Pulse 4-5 times. While machine is running, add oil through the feed tube and mix until the dressing is emulsified.

To make the salad: Mix the lettuce, apples, cashews or pecans, Parmesan cheese and cherries in a large salad bowl. Pour a 1/2 cup of dressing over the salad and toss until all the ingredients are evenly coated. Taste and add more dressing if you desire.

Cherry Crumble

Laura, the innkeeper at the Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast in the heart of Glen Arbor, gave me the inside scoop on how to make your cherry crumble taste as good as hers. The secret is lavender sugar: Pulse ¼ cup culinary lavender and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a blender, then mix the lavender with 3-4 cups sugar. If you put all of the sugar in at first, it turns to powdered sugar. Laura uses this on many things, including a bowl of yogurt topped with fresh cherries.

You could serve as individual crumbles in small ceramic ramekins, or you can use a larger ceramic casserole dish or pie plate.

Serves 4 to 6

For the crumble topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup soft unsalted butter

Pinch ground cardamom

1 pint pitted cherries

1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Mix the crumble topping ingredients with a spatula until they form into coarse, pea-sized shapes. Place the cherries in a casserole dish and sprinkle with the sugar. Toss to coat the cherries, then with your fingers, distribute the crumble topping evenly over cherries.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the cherry juices are bubbling.

Note:

To pit the cherries, I use a paring knife to remove the pits, which is tedious. Also, the cherry juice will stain your fingers, clothes and countertops, so prepare!

Follow-up Question:

What iconic foods do you recommend to visitors to Savannah?

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Georgia food writer visits Michigan and brings back cherry recipes