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Sweet Cherries Washington State produces more than 50% of all the sweet cherries in the United States. Their cherries are shipped all around the world. The top three foreign markets are Canada, Taiwan, and Japan. The Rainier cherry, which is yellow with a red blush, was made from a cross between two dark red cherries, the Van and Bing. The Bing cherry, by which all cherries are measured against, was first developed in 1874 in Milwaukie, Oregon. It is now the most popular sweet cherry! The total U.S. production of sweet cherries is about 370 million pounds; about 175 million pounds of that is processed and are packed as frozen or canned sweet cherries or as maraschino or glacé cherries. Cherries will not ripen after harvesting. The Key to Picking Sweet Sweet Cherries… For the Bing cherries, darkness is the true key to getting a ripe cherry! The darker they are, the sweeter they will be. For Rainer cherries, you want to pay special attention to the rosy cheeks of the fruit. Rosy cheeks mean ripe fruit. Many of the really dark cherries can be found high up in the trees. If you brought your own ladder feel free to use it. If not, pulling down hard on the limb is not acceptable. Young trees are not very thick and can snap fairly easily! Keeping the stems on the fruit will allow for a longer storage life. Sour cherries may also be referred to as pie, tart, or montmorency cherries. The montmorency cherry is the most popular sour cherry variety in the United States. The state of Michigan is the top sour cherry producer in the US. Average annual crops are between 200 to 250 million pounds! These cherries are primarialy used for canning, processing into jams and preserves, and cooking delicious pies.
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Dark Bing Sweet Cherries
Picking Cherries
Beautiful Rainier Cherries |
