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While modern growing methods mean we have cherries year round, the summer months are typically still thought of as cherry season in the United States. The Northwest Horticultural Council records Washington state, California and Oregon as the top cherry-producing states.
The Northwest cherry crop was worth more than $697 million in 2023, and cherry industries in Washington and Oregon together provide more than 20,000 jobs.
Stone Fruit?
A stone fruit, also called a "drupe," has a large pit or "stone" in the middle. Many familiar fruits are in this category: peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and even mangoes. Most stone fruits grow on trees, but raspberries, blackberries and mulberries also technically qualify.
Stone fruits generally ripen in the U.S. from May to October. Plums hang around the longest, but some peach varieties come in through early September. Cherries, however, have a short season that runs from mid-May through the end of July. By August, they're usually all gone.
Cherries have health benefits, too. "There is so much to love about cherries!" says Alex Caspero, a Registered Dietitian at Delish Knowledge. "One serving of sweet cherries provides 12% of your daily recommended fiber intake, along with potassium and vitamin C. And, just two cups of fruit daily is associated with healthy weight maintenance, diabetes prevention and improved cardiovascular health."
Stone fruits, in general, and especially cherries, are frequent guests on many restaurant menus and are used fresh or cooked in savory and sweet applications. They're just as popular for eating out of hand. They're best for that purpose when in season, though. They're far more flavorful and have a better texture.
Savory Cherries
Cherries do well in savory dishes, in particular sour cherries. They offset the richness of many meat dishes like pork, lamb or chicken, although sweet cherries work, too. Even if cherries aren't in season, home cooks can use dried or frozen versions for sauces.
Cherries also find a home in fresh salads. A cherry vinaigrette salad dressing is within the skills of most home cooks. Top the salad with bleu cheese or goat cheese cubes since those varieties complement the flavors of the sweet cherries.
Some feel it's better to enjoy fresh cherries rather than mask their flavors with sugar and other ingredients.
"Since they [cherries] are only in season for a few months each year, I like to enjoy them often during the summer months by eating them on their own as a snack, or baking with them," Caspero says. "They are also great in savory applications, like roasting with balsamic vinegar and black pepper, then spreading over whipped ricotta for a seasonal appetizer or side dish."
Cherry Desserts
If asked, most people say they associate cherries with desserts. A Google search turns up 103 million results for the phrase "cherry desserts." Fortunately, for many recipes, canned or frozen cherries work just as well as fresh. Once the dessert is cooked, it's difficult to tell the difference.
Tiffany McCauley, with The Gracious Pantry, says, "I love cherries! My favorite desserts to make with cherries [are] cherry clafoutis or cherry pie. I lean more towards the cherry pie because you can taste the cherries better."
Cherry pie and cherry cobbler are considered "all-American" desserts, although the British claim Elizabeth I ate the very first cherry pie in the late 1500s.
According to What's Cooking America, the cobbler probably arrived with the first British colonists in America who didn't have their usual pie crust ingredients and continued when they found it easier to make than pies. Biscuit-based crusts, where you drop the dough onto the fruit rather than rolling it out, are often easier. And so, cobblers, buckles, Bettys, grunts, slumps and pandowdies were born.
Chocolate and cherries are natural companions, and chocolate-covered cherries always appear on store shelves around Christmas time. They're also a popular combination in other desserts, including black forest cake.
Vitoli tells the legend of a pastry chef named Josef Keller, who invented the cake in the Black Forest region of Germany in 1915. The cake's cream filling requires refrigeration, so it was a local favorite until the late 1940s when electricity and fridges made it easier to store the cake and share it with neighbors across borders.
"I love cherries for their sweet and tangy taste, which brings back fond memories of summertime," says Bella Bucchiotti, a food blogger at xoxoBella. "My go-to recipe is chocolate cherry brownies, where the combination of rich cocoa and juicy cherries never fails to lift my spirits."
A Strange Varietal
Maraschino cherries' name comes from the method of preservation, not the kind of cherry used. These cherries usually begin their lives as light, sweet cherries. They're brined to bleach their color, then soaked in food coloring and sugar syrup to obtain their famous bright red hue.
Maraschino cherries are used for baked ham with cherries and pineapple and also lend their color and flavor to drinks, including cherry Coke, cherry limeade, Shirley Temples and the Tequila Sunrise.
Maraschino cherries appear in sweet dishes, too. They're the traditional topper for an ice cream sundae, banana split or milkshake. They're also the original decoration in pineapples for a pineapple upside-down cake and are favorites in canned fruit cocktails. The Del Monte company has a "Very Cherry" version for those who love the neon red fruit.