We use cherries for many many things, but the two prominent uses of them this year are our bavarian cream dessert and a shrub for winter use. The Bavarian cream we've announced and described on Spoonfeed already - it uses cherries both in the mousse and in the form of conserves as the sauce. It's a big hit. Shrub is made by preserving cherries in sugar and vinegar and is great for use in cocktails or even just for making sodas. Traditionally it was aged in oak barrels for added complexity. We're still evaluating if we want to go that route or if we just want to keep the flavors clean and bright. Stay tuned for the answer to that question.

New cherry drink it does not have a name but it's sweet sake pickled cherry with rye and suddachi, splashed with ginger beer. I just got done serving it at a farm to table dinner tonight. People loved it. It's like a dark and stormy met a sazerac.

Currently I'm running a grilled lemon pound cake with poached cherries and creme fraiche in the student run restaurant, technique. My favorite cherries come from Mick Klug Farm in St Joseph, Mi. However, I'm not getting them from him this year as his crop was pretty much decimated with the early warm then frost we experienced in March. Bummer.

At mess hall we have been busy making our cocktail cherries with tart cherries from Seedling Orchard. Lots of bourbon, Demerara sugar and a hint of spice make a delicious cherry to drop in your next old fashioned ;)

Right now I am making a sour cherry-goat cheese bread pudding for dessert. I also have a brioche french toast with a warm bourbon-cherry compote on the brunch menu. I get my cherries from Seedling Fruit.