IF ever there were a fruit designed for pure, unashamed pleasure, it’s the cherry. Sure, the peach might have more blatant, come-hither appeal and the strawberry her own buxom allure. Yet the cherry, with its comely, concupiscent curves and fecund, luscious succulence is a sybaritic wink in edible form, pure scarlet temptation. And, although most believe that an apple was the original forbidden fruit, used by that naughty snake to lead poor Adam and Eve into temptation, would you really risk being driven from Eden for a dreary old Granny Smith? I thought not. It’s hard to resist a cherry.
‘The precious, unkeepable cherry,’ sighs Jane Grigson, ‘was the fruit of paradise, the glimpse and symbol of perfection.’ Because it wasn’t always about lascivious desire, rather (and paradoxically) purity and innocence, too. In medieval art, cherries often represented sweet, unsullied virtue and in Renaissance paintings, from Leonardo da Vinci to Titian, the fruit was associated with the Virgin Mary, blood red like Christ’s wounds on the cross. And it’s not just in Europe. The ancient Chinese saw cherries as fruits of immortality and, in Japan, the cherry-blossom (or sakura) season is not only a celebration of spring and new birth, but a contemplation on the transience of life, as short as it is sweet. Rather nearer to home, A. E. Housman, in A Shropshire Lad, decrees the cherry ‘the loveliest of trees’ and P. Morton Shand is characteristically bombastic in his praise. ‘It is a blessed tree, the cherry-tree, and no garden planted in honour of God or Voltaire should be without one.’
Denne historien er fra July 19, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 19, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
