PICKING & STORAGE TIPS
Cherries are not usually picked with their stems on unless there is a specific reason (they are to be dipped in chocolate) which is good since you will not have to remove the stems later. Cherries are easy and quick to pick. They are not so quick to pit. We now know where the saying that "something is the pits" comes from. Pitting cherries is comparable to shelling peas. It is simply time consuming. Some people choose to can their cherries with the pits in and then spit the pits out as they are eating the canned fruit later. We do sell hand pitters to aid in the chore of pitting the cherries but people have used bobby pins, straws, or cut the fruit in half to remove the pits. It's a matter of personal preference and their use.
Cherries
pit more easily when cool.
In order to keep the cherries fresh for as long as possible, it is
important to cool them thoroughly as soon as possible without placing
them in water. Picking during the cooler parts of the day will help too.
Only wash the cherries as you use them (you may not need to wash them at
all). The cherries need to be in a sealed container in the fridge until
you are ready to use them.
Cherries can be picked, pitted, and frozen for use later on.
INTERESTING FACTS & HISTORY
Dwarf sour cherries were developed at the University of Saskatchewan by making crosses between sour cherries and Mongolian cherries. These cherry bushes can be trimmed into trees but we prefer to leave them as bushes for rejuvenation reasons.
Bing Cherries are the B.C. cherries that everyone knows. These are not the
same as Dwarf Sour Cherries. Bing Cherries are for fresh eating only as they
turn brown when heated for cooking. Dwarf Sour Cherries actually have a
higher sugar content than Bing Cherries but they also have a high acid
content leading to the name "sour" cherry. They are mainly used for pies and
other processing but lots of people like to eat them fresh. It all depends
on your taste.
North American pie
filling is made from a yellow-fleshed sour cherry named Montmorency and
contains red dye to get the cherry red colour. Dwarf Sour Cherries are a
European style cherry and have red flesh that does not require dye to
achieve a cherry red colour.
Dwarf Sour Cherries do
not stain counters or clothing. They range in size from around the size of a
nickel to the size of a loonie. We have 5 varieties: Cupid, Romeo, Juliet,
Valentine, & Crimson Passion.
We use Dwarf Sour
Cherries for pies, tarts, canning, jams, jellies, syrup, liqueur, fresh
eating, and with meats.
