I Cannot Tell A Lie 🍒🌳🪓
Plus a giveaway of Kate Quinn's latest, THE ASTRAL LIBRARY
Before I dive into this week’s post, I want to mention a couple things. First, you’ll want to stay tuned till the end of this post for your chance to win a copy of Kate Quinn’s new novel, The Astral Library, which I can’t wait to read. And finally, after many years of online back and forth, met Kate this week in person at a WGBH event, and of course, we totally failed on getting a selfie. But I loved hearing her story of writing the book! She was interviewed by G.R. McAllister, and I was delighted to hear that she herself (and her absolutely fantastic Five Queendom novels) is included in Kate’s book!
Also, last week, in my list of books I am excited about, I knew I was going to be forgetting someone and that someone turned out to be Paulette Kennedy, who has a new novel coming out on March 10: Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael - A young woman, perceived dead, plots to reinvent herself in a gripping historical gothic about secrets, superstition, and murder. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for an interview with Paulette all about this new book!
Is Life Really a Bowl Full of Cherries? It Should Be!
I’ve written about cherries a few times on this blog. And there is even another connection here with Kate Quinn. We both wrote about Renaissance chef Bartolomeo Scappi in past novels, and we both developed our own versions of a cherry sops recipe from that era, which you can find here. I also had the great pleasure of working with ice cream wizard Hannah Speigelman, who shared her recipe for sour cherry coriander ice cream with honeyed pine nuts.
But why am I even talking about cherries? Well, for some bizarre reason, tomorrow is Cherry Pie Day. This was absolutely perplexing to me, because as you probably know, cherries aren’t in season in February. So I did some digging to find out why.
It turns out that the most obvious culprit for our February obsession is the ghost of George Washington. We’ve all been fed the fable of the six-year-old future president and his hatchet, a story invented by his first biographer, Parson Weems, to illustrate a “noble” American character.
Because Washington’s birthday falls on February 22nd, the cherry became the ultimate patriotic motif. By the 19th century, Victorian hostesses were obsessed with themed “Colonial” parties. If you wanted to prove your loyalty and your refinement in mid-February, you served cherry pie. It didn’t matter that the trees were skeletal; the symbol was more important than the season.
But if we look back further, it turns out that in the 15th and 16th centuries, eating a cherry in winter was the ultimate flex for the nobility. Without global shipping, having a cherry tart in February meant your household had the wealth to procure the finest honey, brandies, and sugar to preserve the summer’s best crop.
To crack open a jar of cherries preserved in spiced syrup during the height of a Renaissance winter was a way to tell your guests that while the peasants were eating dried beans and salted meat, your table still held the warmth of a lost July.
There is also a practical, liturgical reason for the mid-winter fruit fix. February often falls during Lent, a period of intense dietary restriction in the early modern world. With meat and often dairy off the table, the human palate craved foods with a hit of acidity and sweetness.
A cherry tart, often made with nut-based “pastes” or oils rather than lard or butter during fast days, was the bright spot in the “lean months.” It provided the necessary calories and a psychological bridge to the coming spring.
And that brings me to a recipe that I absolutely adore. It’s probably my favorite out of all the foods I’ve created and recreated for my novels.
Cherry Rose Tart
In the first paragraph of my novel, In The Garden of Monsters, the characters delight in the flavors of a cherry rose tart. This tart takes its cue from Renaissance flavors and the pairing of cherries with rose water. The two together are a delightful treat. I could eat this pie every day and be happy.
Ingredients
Pastry crust
¾ cup (90 g) flour
½ teaspoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¾ stick (85g) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice-cold water
2 teaspoons rose water
Filling
3 cups pitted sweet cherries
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup (50g) sugar
1 teaspoon rose water
Preparation
Crust
Place flour, sugar, salt, and butter pieces in a bowl and crush the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or your hands until combined.
Add the ice and rose water and stir with a fork until the mixture holds together. Gather it up, pressing it between your hands to make a flat round, then wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least an hour. This makes it much easier to handle.
Sprinkle a pastry cloth or tea towel with flour, then roll the dough into a very thin circle, about 12½ inches in diameter. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and gently fit it into the bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.
Press the dough against the sides of the pan to fill in any holes and make it adhere to the metal. Remove any excess overhanging dough by rolling the rolling pin across the top of the pan. Prick the bottom of the crust a couple of times so it won’t bubble when baking.
Refrigerate the tart shell for one hour.
Filling
Combine the cherries with the cornstarch, sugar, and rosewater.
Arrange the cherry mixture in the tart pan.
Place the tart pan on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven for 45-60 minutes, until the dough is nicely browned.
Time for a Book Giveaway!
Former foster kid Alexandria "Alix" Watson discovers a hidden door in the Boston Public Library leading to the The Astral Library, a magical sanctuary where the desperate and the lost escape into their favorite books. When a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy it, Alix, the ageless Librarian, and a dashing costume-shop owner race through the worlds of Austen, Holmes, and Gatsby to save it.
Do you want to win this book?
To sign up for the giveaway, you can fill out this form. Your name will be thrown into the hat for a shot at a paperback copy. This giveaway closes at midnight ET on Wednesday, 02/25/26. Winners will be notified within 48 hours of the giveaway closing and announced in a future newsletter/post.
Important to Note: You must be 18+ and a United States resident (pesky international laws make it tricky to do giveaways worldwide). If you are someone who loves to read the rules, you can find the obligatory info here.
💥BONUS GIVEAWAY! 💥
The Happiness Collector is part of a huge fantasy giveaway with Bargain Booksy, with 20 books from fantasy authors and a free Kindle as a prize! You can get in on this goodness by clicking here.
What’s Bringing Me Joy
This video made me tear up with the nostalgia of it.
I’ve been doing a lot of research into punk/new wave history from the early 80s and I came across this recent video of the band Fear. This man is 75 and still rocking it!
If you love food and love Italy, and haven’t read IN THE GARDEN OF MONSTERS, THE CHEF’S SECRET, or FEAST OF SORROW, click the links to learn where to buy your copy! And now you can order my latest, THE HAPPINESS COLLECTOR!
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Hi Crystal - Loved this post, as usual! Also, are you familiar with the work of Arthur Ganson? He had a long-running exhibit at the MIT Museum (before they moved to Kendall Square) which was always the most popular with visitors (I worked there, before I 'evolved into the next phase of my life' as Serena Williams put it). Here's a link: https://www.arthurganson.com/thumbnails
Great newsletter again. I also have loved cherries my whole life. Living in the state that is the number one tart cherry producer in the country MI, I also snack on non-sugar added dried tart cherries. They also serve a medicinal purpose of helping to keep my gout under control. And also having a February birthday and growing up with the Washington legend cherries have been front and center :)