This recipe was shared by Hila Alpert. Read more about her family in " Israeli Culinary Journalist Hila Alpert Looks Back on Shavuot on the Kibbutz" and try her recipes for cheese and chocolate truffles and phyllo bundles with feta, honey, and black pepper.

In Israel, this salad is a culinary icon, made popular by Habasta, a restaurant tucked into Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market. Nicknamed “Lali salad” the recipe originated with Hila, whose kibbutz, Ma'ale HaHamisha, was the first in Israel to grow sweet cherries. While harvesting them, she remembers hiding between the leaves so no one would see her as she devoured the cherries straight from the branch.