Fresh Cherry Peach Salsa for Pork Chops or Anything Else

Who Doesn’t Love a Great Salsa?

When seasonal fruit is at its peak, I buy tons of it, and find such joy in figuring out ways to incorporate it into my meals. Salads are a no brainer, as are desserts of all kinds, but a fresh salsa is also delicious. While I served this with pork, it would be just as good served with chicken or beef or scooped up with crisp pita chips. 

Cherries and peaches are both tart and sweet, so I didn’t need to do much to bring this alive. Plenty of scallions, a Serrano pepper, and a little dressing of orange juice, maple syrup, white vinegar, and plenty of salt and pepper really did the trick. But, I wanted more of a kick of tanginess and I decided to add sumac. 

Those of us who have been using ground sumac for years are very familiar with its powerful astringency. My son gifted me a pack of whole dried sumac berries * and I decided to grind some up and try them out in this salsa. Well, I learned that it isn’t simply a matter of grinding them in my spice grinder. They then need to be strained through a mesh strainer in order to remove the inedible outer shells of the berries. Those shells are truly hard as rocks and can’t be eaten. After straining them (and this only takes a couple of minutes), I dipped in my finger for a taste, and just like any other whole spice vs. the ground version, this one has much more going on flavor-wise than the pre-ground sumac. Yes, it’s astringent, but much more complex. It has deep savory notes and a distinct floral quality. 

No, you don’t need to use the whole berries. The powdered version will work just fine, but if you’re so inclined, I highly recommend getting your hands on the whole sumac berries * and trying them out yourself. You’ll see what I mean – So incredibly flavorful.

And then I added a tiny bit of rose water in order to enhance the floral aspect of the flavors. You’ve gotta be very careful when adding rose water to food. A little definitely goes a long way, but when used judiciously, I think it serves to greatly enhance certain flavors, and it was perfect with the cherries and peaches.

I recently purchased a more expensive brand of rose water than I normally use. I read about this brand in many places and had to check it out to see if I thought there really was a difference. Well, yes, there is. This brand is Mymouné * and is a small batch maker from Lebanon. I still had some of my other rose water and did a side by side tasting and test. As soon as I opened the bottle of Mymouné * I noticed a distinct difference. It smelled exactly like fresh roses and tasted the same. It didn’t have any of that overwhelming perfumy type of fake smell or flavor. And while it did cost more, I’ll have it for a long time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t go through a lot of rose water, so this is worth every penny to me.

I found that the salsa needed plenty of salt, so don’t be shy when seasoning it. It was now good to go, so I got on with the rest of my meal. I sprinkled pork chops with chipotle chili powder, salt, and pepper, heated up my cast iron skillet with a little oil and quickly fried the pork chops. The timing on this will depend on the thickness of your chops and I always ere on the side of them being a little undercooked rather than overcooked – nothing is less appealing than a dried out pork chop.

In the meantime I had Kenji Lopez-Alt’s “The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever Recipe” roasting away in the oven and they were ready as soon as the chops were cooked. I don’t know if you’ve ever made this recipe, but it’s my go-to for oven roasted potatoes. I don’t always make the garlic rosemary topping called for in the recipe and didn’t do so this time. They really are The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever and were a perfect accompaniment to the chops and salsa. A sprinkle of chopped pistachios on top of the salsa and we were ready to eat.

The verdict? I’d eat this salsa by the spoonful all by itself and never complain. It’s that good. And what a splendid accompaniment to the pork. So, here you have it, a really good recipe for some of the great cherries and peaches we’re seeing right now. Hope you like it as much as we did.