Boulder Market Meals: Colorado cherries sweeten a fresh market salsa

Market Meals is a collaboration between Boulder Reporting Lab and the Boulder County Farmers Markets, featuring weekly seasonal recipes built around ingredients from local growers, ranchers and food producers. Find it in Nibbles every Tuesday and on Boulder Reporting Lab. Sign up to get Nibbles in your inbox.

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We already have cherries and apricots coming in from the Western Slope and expect all of our fruit, including peaches and plums, to arrive a few weeks early this year because of the warm winter.

You may have seen news about fruit loss this year. Farmers in Hotchkiss and Paonia, where a large portion of the Colorado cherries, peaches and apples are grown, experienced total crop loss because of a late freeze. After blooming early, the delicate flowers couldn’t survive a bitter night in April, and unfortunately these farmers lost the entirety of their fruit for the season. 

You can support impacted fruit growers through Rocky Mountain Farmers Union’s AgAssist program, which helps farmers when disaster strikes.

The good news? Fruit farmers in Palisade were spared the worst of the freeze and still have fruit to bring to markets this year. When we eat those tart cherries or have peach juice dripping down our chins this summer, we are grateful for the miracle that is Colorado stone fruit.

While we could spend days eating stone fruit straight from the white paper bag we carried home from the farmers market, it is always fun to try a new way to enjoy the flavors of the season. 

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The following recipe for sweet and spicy Bing cherry salsa is a great addition to baked brie on a cheese board, served over grilled meat or seafood or simply used with tacos.

Fresh Bing Cherry Jalapeno Salsa

• About 2 cups pitted Bing (or Rainier) cherries
• About ¼ cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 whole jalapeño, finely chopped 
• (remove the seeds for less heat)
• Juice of 1 large lime
• About ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Optional: white sugar

Chop cherries roughly and toss in a bowl with red onion and jalapeño. Top with lime juice and cilantro, toss to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. If your cherries are on the tart side, add a sprinkle of sugar to balance. Store in the fridge for up to a week.

What’s fresh this week? Farmers will be offering cherries, apricots, carrots, rhubarb, honey, turnips, radishes, bok choy, beets, mushrooms, herbs and more this week at the Boulder Farmers Market and the Longmont Farmers Market. 

Visiting the Markets

Boulder Farmers Market

• 13th Street between Arapahoe Ave. and Canyon Blvd.
• 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturdays, April 4-Nov. 21; 3:30-7:30 p.m., Wednesdays, May 6-Oct. 7
• More information

Longmont Farmers Market

• Boulder County Fairgrounds
• 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, April 4-Nov. 21
• More information 

Have a tip or suggestion? Send your comments, questions and ideas to [email protected].

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