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Tart cherries, which are sometimes called sour, red cherries, or pie cherries are best known as the key ingredient in desserts. They are also delicious in main courses, salads, jams and jellies, and beverages. Tart cherries are seldom sold fresh in your local grocery store. They are harvested in July and usually frozen, canned, or dried for use throughout the year. You’ll need to find a farmers’ market to purchase them fresh.
Popular varieties include the Montmorency, Morello, and Early Richmond. Montmorency is the most popular of the sour cherry varieties the U.S. and Canada providing 95% or more of the sour cherries on the market. They are harvested in July and are light to dark red. This cherry has been cultivated in the United States for more than a century.
Sour cherry trees are usually smaller than sweet cherry trees. Sour cherry trees also grow in a wider range of climates. The leading U.S. states in the production of sour cherries include Michigan, New York, and Utah. Sour cherry trees will produce fruit when pollinated with their own pollen or with pollen from another sour cherry variety.
March 10, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I keep a bag of dried cherries in my desk at work. They are a great healthy mid-day snack. Dreid tart cherries are also great additional to a salad. I throw in a handful of dried tart cherries, feta and walnuts into my daily salad. I also love the cherry salsa from Traverse Bay Farms. I keep a jar in the breakroom and snack on it throughout the day.