U-pick cherries (and other fruit)

[BrinkofSunshine]

I’m obsessed with blueberries and wait all year for u-pick season!! I’ve been going for 5 years and go several times a season. Love it.

This year I tried strawberry picking from a hydroponics farm which was great too. I also enjoy going to a u-pick egg farm.

 

[snoopy5386]

We have an orchard around the corner where you can pick sour cherries - which you can’t get in stores, they don’t travel well enough.

So yes we go pick those every year, I have picked them the day before and the morning of a vacation due to to timing lol.

We also usually pick strawberries, apples and pumpkins every year.

 

[Skippy918]

We’ve picked strawberries, blackberries and peaches. I would like to take the kids blueberry picking but the closest one is 3 hours away.

 

[bcla]

We have an orchard around the corner where you can pick sour cherries - which you can’t get in stores, they don’t travel well enough.

So yes we go pick those every year, I have picked them the day before and the morning of a vacation due to to timing lol.

We also usually pick strawberries, apples and pumpkins every year.

We don't have a lot of sour cherries around here. I think we mostly get canned or jarred cherries for things like cherry pie. Is that a midwest thing? It's pretty much only sweet cherries in California. I heard that unprocessed midwest cherries aren't even allowed to be brought into California because of quarantine laws.

 

[mnrose]

Sour cherries are a midwest thing. You can't really eat them raw (too sour), but the BEST for pies and crisps.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I’ve been apple picking several times in New York, in the fall. Never used a ladder. They give you a picker tool to use, which is a pole with a net or basket on the end (think of an extra long lacrosse stick). It’s nice to get some of the more unusual varieties that you can’t always find in supermarkets.

 

[bcla]

Sour cherries are a midwest thing. You can't really eat them raw (too sour), but the BEST for pies and crisps.

I was looking up where one might be able to get fresh sour cherries in California. It's very limited. Can't really get them from Michigan because state quarantine laws, and maybe one source from Utah that can be trucked into California. And maybe a few sources in California.

https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-farmers-market-online-20130720-story.html
So when one of the rare California growers, such as the legendary Circle C Ranch from near Lake Hughes, brings sour cherries to the Hollywood farmers market, "there isn't a stick big enough to fight off all the customers," says manager Alexandra Agajanian.
** **
A century ago, Midwestern farmers grew dozens of varieties of sour cherries, but today, 99% of the domestic crop is of one centuries-old French type called Montmorency, and almost all of the harvest is processed. Because sour cherries are so delicate and because of quarantine restrictions for pests, fresh sour cherries from the Midwest rarely reach California markets.

https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/19/my-search-for-sour-cherries
Every year for the past 5 or 6 years I've made a decision to find fresh sour cherries in the Bay Area. It has never happened for me. I've either missed it by a week, or no one knows anyone who grows them. So this year, I decided to start early. Very early. And do a lot of research. First, however, I'll take a step back and offer up a few facts.​

 

[snoopy5386]

We don't have a lot of sour cherries around here. I think we mostly get canned or jarred cherries for things like cherry pie. Is that a midwest thing? It's pretty much only sweet cherries in California. I heard that unprocessed midwest cherries aren't even allowed to be brought into California because of quarantine laws.

Well I’m in Maryland, so not just a Midwest thing. I like them for eating just fine, but yes also for pies and crisps. The season is extremely short - 1-2 weeks and that’s it. There are people lined up to buy them and they buy buckets and buckets worth. We do climb the ladders to pick, my kids love it.

We pick some sweet cherries too, but the sour ones are my favorite. We have about a month before they will be ready.

 

[bcla]

Well I’m in Maryland, so not just a Midwest thing. I like them for eating just fine, but yes also for pies and crisps. The season is extremely short - 1-2 weeks and that’s it. There are people lined up to buy them and they buy buckets and buckets worth. We do climb the ladders to pick, my kids love it.

We pick some sweet cherries too, but the sour ones are my favorite. We have about a month before they will be ready.

As far as I can tell, sweet cherries do better where it doesn't get to freezing temperatures regularly. Probably why the west coast is where most sweet cherries are grown in the US.

Not sure why we don't have more sour cherries in California other than few growers wanting to take a chance on something different. They seem to grow just fine even without a frost.

 

[RedAngie]

Both Shop-Rite and Acme had cherries advertised for sale this past week $1.99 per pound, yet neither store had them in stock. Signs were posted about a shortage of high quality cherries.