[1] Spiced cherries with wine and vinegar (photo © 34° Foods).

[2] George Washington in uniform (portrait by Gilbert Stuart).

Leading up to next Monday, we begin a week of cherry tips in honor of our first president, George Washington.

No cherry trees were cut down to create these tips!

The Father of our Country was born on February 22, 1732 on his family estate off the south bank of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. (When he was 3-1/2 the family moved to Mount Vernon.)

If your cherry repertoire is limited to pies, preserves and chocolate-covered cherries, you’re missing out on savory expressions of the cherry.

Try savory cherry condiments available from cherry specialist Chukar Cherries.

You can buy (or make your own) cherry balsamic vinaigrette, cherry chipotle barbecue sauce, cherry salsa and curried cherry chutney.

And try this recipe for spiced cherries. Serve them as a condiment with cheese or with charcuterie and pâté instead of—or along with—gherkins (make enough for gifts).

The spiced cherries work as both a savory condiment with hot and cold meats and sandwiches as well as a dessert sauce on ice cream or sorbet.

Or, add them to a pound cake with some whipped cream to celebrate George Washington’s Birthday on February 22. Don’t forget the candle!

You’ll have to wait until June, though, for fresh cherries to begin to arrive.

When Washington’s biographer, Parson Mason Weems, made up the “Father, I cannot tell a lie” myth about young George chopping down the treasured cherry tree, he should have thought ahead and picked a fruit that would be available in February!