The French call it Le Temps des Cerises, the Time of Cherries, the brief, shining moment when all's right with the world. For some, that's April, when the cherry trees are in their pink-blossom splendor. For the rest of us, it's mid-June to mid-August, when the fruit is ripe: cherry season.
It doesn't last long, so do yourself a favor and buy this now: a cherry pitter. Then you can take advantage of the sales. Cherries were $7.99 a pound last week at Safeway, $5.99 at the new Kress IGA downtown, but only $2.99 at QFC.
Says Robb Myers of CMI, a major grower and shipper based in Wenatchee, "Cherries are one of the few remaining items that have a true seasonality, and that really helps with the consumer demand since they don’t get tired of having them all year."
The only fruit that exceeds the economic importance of cherries in Washington is apples, roughly double. (Wine grapes are worth a bit more but don't get sold directly to consumers.) Still, "The 2007 crop was worth $580 million dollars in terms of direct sales from the industry to retailers and the export market," reports Andrew Willis of the Washington State Fruit Commission.. Depending on the year, 10 to 15 million "cartons," boxes of 40 lbs, sold locally and exported to 62 countries.
Cherry orchards cover 36,000 acres, but this ain't giant agribiz. Some 2,500 families grow cherries, some orchards as small as 5 acres. And here's a botanical footnote: cherries are drupes, same as apricots, peaches and plums.
Click here for a report on the "Northwest Cherries" luncheon held at Canlis,
Ronald:
The very best cherries that I have ever had are the very
large golden cherries that only seem to grow in the State of Washington and only at this very short season at this time of year.
Do they grow anywhere else that you know about?
Jerry B.
The Rainier Cherry, as it is called, was actually developed in the State of Washington and is now produced throughout the Northwest and California. Around 95% of the world's Rainier production comes from the Northwest, where the climate is best suited to the production of this exceptionally sweet variety. There are a few planted in Chile, which rarely if ever make it to market in the United States and a few planted in Canada. That sums up world production of Rainiers.
Thanks for the tip! It will keep me from looking like a cow chewing the cud when I am eating cherries.