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nafex - [NAFEX] late harvested sour cherries

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  • From: "Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>
  • To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] late harvested sour cherries
  • Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:56:39 -0700

This year, I have been able to taste the changes in Montmorency cherries when left to hang for weeks after the normal harvest time.  Normally, robins and starlings will strip the tree in July.  This year the birds did not show up.  It has been much warmer than normal, so maybe the birds are hanging out closer to the mountains or maybe farther north where they can stay cool.  Montmorency cherries, during the normal harvest time in July, are very sour and they are a hot sports car red color.  After hanging 3 weeks or more after the normal harvest date, the cherries turn a translucent purplish red.  The extreme tartness almost completely mellowed-out.  There is a little sweetness and lots of slightly fruity, watery juice.  When left to over-ripen, Montmorency cheeries make an OK fresh eating cherry.  I wouldn't hold a whole crop on the tree, especially if the birds come back, but leaving a few branches for a late harvest in August provides a fresh-eating cherry crop long after the normal sweet cherries are done.

-Mark Lee, Seattle, zone 8a

 




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