How to pick tart cherries

3 min read

Montmorency and its relatives, grown for pie rather than for eating out of hand. Worth a trip if you bake, and a short season even by cherry standards.

farms

regions

June to July

picked

When you can pick tart cherries

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
These come off without their stems, which is normal here and would be a mistake with a sweet cherry
2
Bright translucent red and soft to the touch. Firmness means it needs longer, which is the opposite of what people assume
3
They bruise on contact, so do not fill deeper than a few inches
4
Do not judge by taste. A perfectly ripe tart cherry is still sharp, which is the point of it
5
Pit the same day if you can. The flavour holds but the texture goes quickly

What people get wrong

Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.

Expecting them to taste like dessert cherries and concluding they are unripe. A perfectly ripe sour cherry is sharp and that is the point
Picking firm ones. Unlike almost everything else here, softness is the ripeness signal
Worrying that the stems stayed on the tree. Sour cherries release from the stem and that is normal
Leaving them a day before pitting. The flavour holds but the texture collapses

Varieties worth knowing

Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.

Montmorency

Effectively the entire American sour cherry crop. Bright red, clear juice, and the pie standard.

Balaton

A darker Hungarian variety grown in Michigan. Sweeter and richer than Montmorency, and worth seeking out.

Romeo and Carmen Jewel

Dwarf bush cherries from the University of Saskatchewan, bred for prairie winters and picked standing up rather than on a ladder.

Once you are home

Most people pick more than they planned to.

Pit and freeze the day you pick, in measured pie quantities so you are not thawing ten pounds for one dessert
Sour cherry juice freezes well and is the base of an excellent shrub or soda syrup
They are the best cherry for anything cooked, because the acid survives heat and sugar where a Bing turns flat
Dry them if you have a dehydrator. Dried sour cherries cost a fortune to buy

The season

Even shorter than sweet cherries, and mostly a Great Lakes crop. Michigan grows the overwhelming majority of the American sour cherry harvest and picks in July. Two weeks is a normal season and one bad week of weather can take it.

Best time to pick

Morning, and go the week the farm says rather than the week you planned. This is the shortest window on the list.

How much to pick

A pie needs about four cups of pitted fruit, which is roughly two and a half pounds picked. Ten pounds is a serious afternoon and a freezer full of pie filling.

Keeping them

Two or three days refrigerated, or pit and freeze straight away, which is what most of a haul is for.

With children

Good, if the farm grows bush varieties. Standard sour cherry trees are as awkward as sweet ones. Children generally do not want to eat these, which cuts both ways.

Worth knowing

Michigan grows roughly three quarters of the American tart cherry crop, almost all of it Montmorency, a variety that has been propagated by cuttings since seventeenth century France. Every Montmorency tree is effectively the same tree.

Where you can pick tart cherries

18 farms across 6 regions, earliest season first. Every date came from the farm's own words.

Philadelphia, PA5 farms

Weaver's Orchard, Kauffman Orchards, Cherry Hill Orchards and 2 more

June to July

Washington, DC3 farms

Baugher's Orchards and Farms, Crooked Run Orchard, Pryor Orchards

June to July

Cleveland, OH1 farm

West Orchards Farm Market

June to July

Grand Rapids, MI6 farms

Overhiser Orchards, Grange Fruit Farm, Rasch Cherry & Apple Market and 3 more

July

Detroit, MI2 farms

Westview Orchards & Winery, Brookwood Fruit Farm

July

Rochester, NY1 farm

Hurd Orchards

July

Other guides

What to look for

These come off without their stems, which is normal here and would be a mistake with a sweet cherry

Bright translucent red and soft to the touch. Firmness means it needs longer, which is the opposite of what people assume

They bruise on contact, so do not fill deeper than a few inches

Do not judge by taste. A perfectly ripe tart cherry is still sharp, which is the point of it

Pit the same day if you can. The flavour holds but the texture goes quickly

What people get wrong

Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.

Expecting them to taste like dessert cherries and concluding they are unripe. A perfectly ripe sour cherry is sharp and that is the point

Picking firm ones. Unlike almost everything else here, softness is the ripeness signal

Worrying that the stems stayed on the tree. Sour cherries release from the stem and that is normal

Leaving them a day before pitting. The flavour holds but the texture collapses

Varieties worth knowing

Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.

Montmorency

Effectively the entire American sour cherry crop. Bright red, clear juice, and the pie standard.

Balaton

A darker Hungarian variety grown in Michigan. Sweeter and richer than Montmorency, and worth seeking out.

Romeo and Carmen Jewel

Dwarf bush cherries from the University of Saskatchewan, bred for prairie winters and picked standing up rather than on a ladder.

Once you are home

Most people pick more than they planned to.

Pit and freeze the day you pick, in measured pie quantities so you are not thawing ten pounds for one dessert

Sour cherry juice freezes well and is the base of an excellent shrub or soda syrup

They are the best cherry for anything cooked, because the acid survives heat and sugar where a Bing turns flat

Dry them if you have a dehydrator. Dried sour cherries cost a fortune to buy