North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[dwoodard@becon.org]

There are two (main?) kinds of sour cherries, each represented by numerous
cultivars:

Amarelles, like Montmorency, which have yellow flesh and almost clear to
light amber juice (mostly going by the books since I have experience only
with Montmorency among amarelles). This is the standard American pie
cherry though it originated in France. "Sour cherries," "tart cherries" or
"pie cherries" which are produce of North America will almost certainly be
Montmorencies. Shortly after harvest, these are sold here pitted, usually
frozen, in 10 pound buckets

Morellos, which have red flesh and dark juice. They seem to be the
commonly grown kind in Germany and central Europe and seem favoured for
canned cherries and jams there. Cherries sold in Ontario supermakets in
glass jars in light syrup, imported from Hungary, are Morellos; my
experience is that about 5% of cherries still have the stones in them.

I doubt that there is much difference between amarelles and morellos in
suitability for pie making except that possibly those grown and processed
in North America may have fewer pits left in them. This judgement is
mostly from reading rather than personal experience, though I eat a lot of
the imported bottled morellos and I like them a lot. I think the flavour
may be a little better than typical Montmorencies, though fresh
Montmorencies when ripened to a mahogany skin colour have a delicious
flavour. However due to rot risk and birds and considerations of equipment
utilization they seem usually to be harvested before this stage.

I believe that morellos usually or often make smaller trees than amarelles.
English Morello and Schattenmorelle are common cultivars.

In years past canned sweet cherries were sold in supermarkets here as
"black cherries." I don't remember whether they were pitted or not.
I doubt these would make good pies. I haven't seen any on sale for several
years.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Niagara Peninsula
Ontario, Canada



> What sort of cherries do you use for pies?
>
> I am making a cherry pie for a party tomorrow.  I'm using canned cherries.
>  I have been looking for affordable canned cherries (hard around here) so
> I'm "taste testing" some options.  (Hey, I can explore canned fruit from
> the supermarket, right?)
>
> I have a bottle of cherries from Trader Joe's marked "Morello" (and from
> Germany.)  I also have some cans just labeled "sour cherries".  The
> Morello cherries were packed with some sugars, (including glucose!) and
> are a lovely dark red.  The sour cherries are packed in water and are so
> pale I'd consider adding food color.  Except that the Morello cherries are
> sweetened, they taste quite similar.
>
> Anyone know what I'm eating?  Is the color different just because the
> processing was different, or is the fruit really different?  What makes a
> good pie cherry, anyway?
>
> Thanks,
> Ginda