When Life Hands You Cherry Stones,

Make Cherry Pit Ice Cream.

aka Noyaux

{Are you looking for the recipe? Click on this link to find Cherry Pit Ice Cream.}

Pronounced "NWI-oh."

It tastes better than the best marzipan. Involves getting friendly with a hammer. Uses all of the fruit. Wows friends and foes.

Teaches you something about the genealogy of stone fruit. Reminds even the most skeptical that there's always something left to be discovered.             Is less expensive than real almond extract. Makes a great mess. Is gorgeous paired with buttery cakes, other stone fruit,             green almonds, Beaumes de Venise, reduced vinegar sauces, love & lust & crushes,

        luscious sorbets and subtle linen blouses, silk velvet and fast cars, birthday suits and soft socks, all on its own and mounded with soft downy chocolate shavings.

Go Now.

Make It. *another version here.

Thank me later.

Save your organic cherry stones. Throw your stems into the garden or play a miniature game of pick-up sticks.

Cherries won't be here forever. Take a break from strawberries, they'll be here until late summer. Save up your pennies and buy a good pitter.

The first time I made cherry pit ice cream I cracked each pit just so, and with tiny, deft pinches and a keen eye, plucked those tiny "almonds" from the inside of each hard shattered shell walls. Did I say tiny?

But that's because I'm insane.

You can do this instead: pick a dishtowel you're not in love with. lay out cherry stones on one side and fold another side over them like they're going nighty-night forever. Take out hammer and smash every which way but Wednesday. Use this as your infusion. Just be sure to strain that ice cream base through a fine meshed sieve before chilling, churning and serving!

Want to gild the lily? Cook cherries briefly in a dash of cognac or port or red verjus or balsamic or banyuls vinegar, rough chop & add.

What it tastes like,

How it will make you feel,

What will happen when you feed it to that special person,

I can't say here. Unless of course we could definitively establish that you're of age.

xx

Comments

[Victoria]

This sounds absolutely delicious. (I wonder if the flavor is elusive, as the flavor was in the licorice ice cream I once made using licorice tea bags. The color was a soft golden beige, and I think some people would have been hard pressed to identify the taste.) Could you perchance recommend a good cherry pitter for the rest of us insane people who are actually tempted to try this recipe?

Victoria, I will post a photo of my pitter by the end of the day. ~ Shuna

[matt]

You have SO inspired me. Definitely going to make this. WOW.

[Aran]

I have never heard of such thing and I am soooooooo intrigued. Must try this. I have been eating so many cherries that past few days and I am feeling guilty for throwing the pits away. I have another bag on the counter so I will be making this for sure. Thanks for sharing!

[Megan]

Wait, this sounds so exciting, but I feel like the kid in class who doesn't get it but sees the excitement on everyone else's face. What happens when the pits are smashed? I must know! You use them in the ice cream mix and then strain them out? They add flavor?

Megan, Read a few of the links and the first few sentences... See what cherries and apricots and peaches etc. are related to? If you like "the taste of almonds" you will appreciate the flavor/aroma of noyau. ~ Shuna

[Warda]

I'm learning something today, Wow!
But I guess I need an ice cream maker first.

[Aaron]

What is red verjus like? I've never even heard of it. What a funny name too...a bit paradoxical.
Where do you get it?

Hello Aaron,

Yes, funny indeed. I have seen it here and there, made by Fusion & Navarro. This article in the NY Times can tell you even more... ~ Shuna

[Miranda]

Can't wait to try this. I have, somewhere in this vast mess, a recipe for "Plum Pit Panna Cotta." Same idea.

[Joe Fish]

Yay alchemy!

[Felix]

Cool! I'm going to try it! Tell me, are all stone-fruit pits edible? I grew up with the (myth?) that the almond-like thing in the center of the peach pit was poison.

Hello Felix!

great to see you here again. I have attempted to answer your important query in this follow up piece. I myself have eaten countless stone fruit pits and their interiors, but you should know all the facts, yes. ~ Shuna

[Tartelette]

I have been saving the pits for stuffing tiny pillows with and keep them iced for headaches but this is ten times better!! Love the idea!

[Bryan]

the last several summers while making stone fruit jams, you'd better believe i took a hammer to all my fruits' pits and gave em a good once-over. it's so worth it for the kernels' weirdlovely green almondy flavor.
some pits will cook in the jams, i'll keep some kernels as-is for infusing cooked creams, and roast the rest for uncooked ganache infusions or never-too-sweet nut pastes.
they all seem to keep-- correctly labeled if they're not roasted-- in the freezer to use later.
plus, i love the idea that you can really use almost the entire fruit and little goes to waste. and now, i have a new game to play with the stems!

[Eric]

Eating cherry pits can be harmful to your health, says Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. Read More by clicking on this important link.

Eric, I changed your comment because it's not ok to quote a person's writing without both crediting & linking. Thank you for your feedback and research. But there's more to the story than meets the eye so I hope you'll read on... ~ Shuna

[Aran]

A guy named Eric sent me an email that just said that cherry pits are dangerous and poisonous. is this true? he just referenced your post so I wasn't sure what it was all about. I haven't researched it yet.

Aran! Don't be alarmed-- I have not sent you down a road of death. Check out my follow up post meant to inform.

On another note, you may want to discontinue to leave your email in the field here... unfortunately I can't stop anyone from clicking on the link to your email address. ~ Shuna

[TomK]

Cherry pits contain cyanide. Please do not make cherry pit ice cream. You will be eating cyanide.

Hello TomK, Thank you for your concern. I have eaten more cherry (apricot, plum, peach, nectarine too) pits and noyaux than I can count, in frangipane, almond paste, ice cream, pannacotta, cake and little Italian cookies so it's far too late for me. But I will warn everyone else in a follow-up small post. ~ Shuna

[ruggiero]

so, why no recipe for this ice cream? Too hot to write it out?

Ruggiero

hello Ruggiero, I'll be sure to post the proportions, but I have already written extensively on how to make ice cream-- click on the top links for some of my tried and true methods. ~ Shuna

[Dana]

I LOVE using cherry pits. I even just posted my own recipe, which was cut from a gourmet.com article. I am so glad to see this flavor celebrated here. It's such an amazing flavor, the diamond in the rough.

[Raspil]

that's really cool.

[Elderchef]

Nick Malgieri says to wash, dry, and save the pits to use instead of rice or beans to blind bake pie shells because they don't absorb the fat from the pie crust and so will not turn rancid. I tried this but Nancy throws them out!

[Aktinos]

La-a-a-a-ate comer, but...I eat the shelled kernels flat-out. Stupendous flavor blast! I like the ones from deep-red cherries the most. The almond essence is ummistakeable, and there is a very strong, yet somewhat subtle cherry vibe (VERY similar to diluted vapors of benzyl alcohol), and of course the bitterness. 6-10 at a time, maybe once every day or two, so far so good!