Ignorance Is Bliss.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking around town with an American friend. As we past the many street vendors that were out, most of whom were selling cherries, I commented how much I liked cherries and how good this seasons were looking. "You do know how to eat cherries here, yes?" was her follow up question. Umm ... well, don't you just wash them and eat them? I responded. She told me I was supposed soak the cherries in cold water overnight so that all the worms would crawl out and die. Then I should store them in the refrigerator to keep the worm larvae from hatching, but that I could eat those?! Appetizing, yes?!

Over the next weeks as I continued to pass the cherry vendors, I could only think about those worms - and was she serious?! I remember eating so many cherries last spring/summer. I did have a few batches that produced lots of worms after a couple of days (several times I ate quite a lot of them before I noticed all the little white things crawling around ... oops), but mostly they were simply delicious. I bought half a kilo and brought them home. I soaked them in cold water in the refrigerator overnight and when I woke up I was greeted to dozens of worms sticking half out of the cherry that they once called home! (As evidenced by these two characters here ...)I was and am completely grossed out (as I itch and cringe my way through this post)! I have not touched a cherry since. Haha. I just cannot bring myself to buy more knowing what is crawling around inside some of them - and even if I chilled the worms to death, I cannot stop thinking about all the unhatched worms that are still in there! I think cherries are pretty much ruined for me here. Perhaps, when I get back to America I will be able to convince myself that there are no worms in cherries because of all the pesticides and things people use when growing things. A return to ignorance would be awesome - because I really do like cherries.