All guides
How to pick sweet cherries
4 min read
A three-week season in most places, and the pick that most rewards turning up on the right weekend.
76
farms
12
regions
April to July
picked
When you can pick sweet cherries
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Across every region on Pickeria. Darker months are peak somewhere; your own region is narrower, and the table below gives it.
What to look for
- 1
Pick by the stem, not the fruit. A cherry pulled off its stem tears the skin and starts spoiling within hours
- 2
Take the stem off the spur carefully, using a thumbnail if it resists. Stripping the spur removes the wood that would have fruited next year
- 3
Deep and even colour with a taut skin. Dark red for most sweet varieties, amber blushed with red for Rainier
- 4
Cherries do not sweeten after picking, so taste one from each tree before you commit to filling a bucket under it
- 5
Split skins mean rain landed on ripe fruit. Those are still fine to eat today but will not keep, so eat them in the car
What people get wrong
Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.
- Pulling the cherry off its stem, which opens the fruit and starts it spoiling before you reach the car
- Stripping the whole spur off the branch, which removes the wood that would have fruited next year
- Filling a bucket from one tree without tasting it, when the tree twenty feet away can be markedly sweeter
- Assuming they will sweeten at home. Cherries have no starch reserve and what you pick is exactly what you get
Varieties worth knowing
Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.
Bing
The dark red benchmark. Firm, sweet, and what most people picture when they think of a cherry.
Rainier
Yellow blushed with red, notably sweeter and more delicate. Birds find them first and they bruise if you look at them.
Lapins and Sweetheart
Later varieties that extend the season by a week or two and resist splitting better.
Chelan
An early Washington variety that opens the season, often a fortnight before Bing.
Once you are home
Most people pick more than they planned to.
- Pit and freeze the same week, because a cherry stops being interesting after about ten days
- A cherry pitter costs almost nothing and saves an hour on any real quantity
- Cherries in brandy or in syrup are the best long keep, and a jar of them in December justifies the whole trip
- Freeze some unpitted for cooking. They pit far more easily once thawed
Where you can pick sweet cherries
76 farms across 12 regions, earliest season first. Every date came from the farm's own words.
Published prices
$4.00 to $7.50 per pound
Martin Family Farm, Farmer's Daughter Produce, Diablo Cherries and 15 more
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April to June
Los Angeles, CA5 farms
Villa del Sol Sweet Cherry Farms, Riley's Farm, Cherries LA by Tenerelli Orchards and 2 more
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May to June
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May to June
Grand Rapids, MI12 farms
Overhiser Orchards, Crane Orchards, Grange Fruit Farm and 9 more
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June to July
Washington, DC9 farms
Great Country Farms, Baugher's Orchards and Farms, Larriland Farm and 6 more
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June to July
Portland, OR8 farms
Pearl's Place Fruit, Montavon's Berries, The Gorge White House and 5 more
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June to July
Boston, MA6 farms
Cider Hill Farm, Tougas Family Farm, Parlee Farms and 3 more
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June to July
Philadelphia, PA6 farms
Weaver's Orchard, Kauffman Orchards, Johnson's Corner Farm and 3 more
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June to July
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June to July
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June to July
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June to July
Rochester, NY6 farms
Fisher's Fruit & Christmas Tree Farm, Burnap's Farm Market & Garden Cafe, Schutt's Apple Mill and 3 more
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July
Farms that publish a price
Taken from the farm's own website, never from a directory. Most publish nothing at all, so these are worth knowing.
