Are any bush cherries suitable for fresh eating?

Hendrick, in “The Cherries of New York” (1915):

The cherries with colorless juice are the Amarelles, from the Latin for bitter, a term probably first used by the Germans but now in general use wherever these cherries are grown, though the English often designate them as Kentish cherries and the French as Cerisier Commun. These Amarelles are pale red fruits, more or less flattened at the ends. Despite the derivation of the name Amarelle, they have less bitterness than the other group of varieties of the Sour Cherry. They are also less acid than the darker colored cherries and are therefore more suitable for eating out of hand while the dark colored cherries are almost exclusively culinary fruits. The common representatives of this group are Early Richmond, Montmorency and the various cherries to which the word Amarelle is affixed, as the King Amarelle and the Spate Amarelle.

The second group, varieties with reddish juice and usually with very dark fruits which are more spherical or cordate in shape than the Amarelles, comprises the Morellos of several languages or the Griottes of the French. The first of these terms has reference to the color, the word Morello coming from the Itallian meaning blackish while Griotte, from the French, probably is derived through agriotte from aigre, meaning sharp, in reference to the acidity of these cherries. Weichsel is the German group name for these cherries, rather less commonly used than the other two terms. The trees of the Morello-like varieties are usually smaller, bushier and more compact than those of the Amarelles. The branches, as a rule, are more horizontal, often drooping, are less regularly arranged and are more slender. The leaves, in typical varieties, are smaller, thinner, a darker green and are pendant while those of the Amarelles are either inclined to be upright or horizontal; the leaves are also toothed less deeply and more regularly. These differences in the leaves are well shown in the color-plates of the varieties of the two groups. There are differences, also, in the inflorescence and the floral organs in the extreme types but these disappear in the varieties that connect the two forms. The typical varieties of this group are English Morello, Ostheim, Olivet, Brusseler Braune, Vladimir and Riga.

Hendrick’s description is obviously outdated since best cultivars for fresh eating are of Morello type, but he either did not have access to them or, mostly, they have been developed much later.

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Thanks, I never knew that!

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me niether. i thought a sour cherry was a sour cherry! that said i have both versions here. my romance series are going to have a good crop this summer if all the blooms develop. i dont see any on monty yet but its just starting to leaf. last year it had 2 blooms but both failed. be a few more years for lutowka.

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Just one short month ago I was talking about how sour my Romance cherries were last year - my first year to get a big crop. I was very disappointed and found them almost inedible they were so sour.

Well, I just picked this years crop and they are far, far sweeter than last year. They are still quite sour, but now I understand why many of you said you enjoy them out of hand fresh eating. Last year that seemed crazy- but today I ate about 10 of them in a row and found them pretty darn good. Just about the same as my Monty which are also ripening now.

Now, the obviously question is whether they are really a lot sweeter this year, did my tastes change, or what is going on. Unfortunately I don’t have a refractometer for measuring brix. But I am 100% certain that they are sweeter this year. We had a somewhat dryer spring -especially the last 10-12 days. I’m sure that helps. Its also possible that my tree has matured more and is just producing better fruit. I don’t know what is going on, but I’m happy about it.

I just wanted to make sure I came back and updated my opinion for those who didn’t agree or those who may not have tried them yet and were disappointed to hear me say I thought they were almost too sour to eat. Not any more! Juliet is the sweetest of mine, then Romeo. Romeo is also smaller on mine- though I’ve not seen a lot of others say that. They good news is a planted several suckers this winter so now I’m glad.

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thats good to hear Kev. had me worried. all mine are loaded with fruit here at 4th leaf including monty. juliet was the best here last year but only got about 8- 10 on the c.j and juliet . this year should be very interesting to compare them all. i may need to buy a pitter.:wink: my lutowka rose is growing very vigorously. might give me a few to try next summer.

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What about the meader cherries? Some people say they are sweet enough to eat. Another poster said they are an “acquired taste”.

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I really look forward to hearing your report. I hope they are as good as mine are this year. One thing is fot sure…my bushes sure do produce a LOT! I’d say per square foot, they are the most productive fruit I grow. I picked 4 quarts (1 gal) yesterday off 2 five foot bushes and you can’t tell any are missing! Good luck!

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seeing i have 8 cherry trees i dont think i need to get 2 more. we’ll see. :wink:

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Time to revive this old thread!

My Juliet was well loaded and we had fantastic dry weather where I could let them get fully ripe in the bush (number one reason why people find them too sour, when they first turn red they are still not ripe). Then I noticed them thinning, which was odd because usually birds don’t bother them and if they did they would leave a mess. Well the mystery was solved when the other morning I looked out of the window and saw my daughter munching on them right off the bush. She got in the habit of attacking the cherries in the morning…

She doesn’t like sweet cherries but these are one of her favorite fruits.

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Hey mamuang,
I had the exact same experience with Danube. The cherries tasted good, but I can’t give up that much real estate for 2-6 cherries. I had a similar experience with Jubileum. They’re almost worse, because when ripe they are purple. Birds attack both cherries when they are an unripe bright red. You get none.

John S
PDX OR :frowning_face:

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with all the rain we had. even after 3 fungal sprays. brown rot found my crop a week before they were dead ripe. birds/ squirrels dont touch them here yet. knock on wood! i lost about 1/3rd of my crop but still froze a crapload. sprayed with immunox right after harvest to at least hopefully keep the spores from surviving. going to up my spray regimen to hopefully nip it in the bud. up till this spring i only sprayed copper then 1 immunox during fruiting and during leaf fall. voles ate my polish cherry to the ground but it came back from the stump and about 10ft from that, from the roots and put on nearly 5ft of growth since late may. they are nearly the size of the mother plant that got eaten.

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Which sour cherries do best around Philadelphia? I already grow Juliet which he’ll also grow. but my nearby friend may want to also add a sour cherry tree as well as they love Persian/Iranian sour cherry (aka Albaloo aka i think thats actually English Morello). How would English Morello (Morello type) vs Montmorency (Amerelle type) do around here on East Coast here? or would another tree type be recommended.

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We have the Juliet and Crimson Passion. No fruit yet, but had a few flowers last spring, perhaps 2024? From what I’ve read the CP cherries are supposed to be the best of the bunch, but this link from Montana they’re not having much luck with them producing: Cherries - Western Agricultural Research Center | Montana State University

Have also read they make excellent pie.

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Crimson Passion is known to take a long, long time to fruit. Ask @galinas. She had first hand experience.

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Planted Crimson Passion in 2013. Removed in 2019. Didn’t try a single berry. Didn’t see a single flower… It was planted in full sun in rich soil.

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And I got a stick of your Crimson Passion and grafted it on my Juliet since 2017 (or 2018). So far, it has not produced any flower.

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its a heavy producer in my region but we get alot more rain than M.T. great in pies but Juliet is best followed by Romeo. the best flavored here is still the tried and true Montmorency, though it got damaged 3 winters ago by -40 temps. i left it alone but need to prune out the damaged wood as its been stunted since. before that the bush was just starting to produce. i have several z4 sweet cherries grafted on the south side that are growing well.

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I really like the flavor of Carmine Jewel and Juliet. Juliet keeps getting better with age. Do they taste like Montmorency cherries? No, that is a unique flavor. But the bush cherries have their own unique flavor. I’m so glad they are different and I love both. I’m hoping wowza is decent. The first crop was pretty good. I lost Carmine Jewel and was going to replace it but now I’m not as Juliet keeps getting better. This year it was yet again improved in flavor enough to compete with Carmine Jewel so I decided to not replace it as the small size is undesirable.
So I have Wowza and Juliet and 2 Montmorency cherries. These produce enough cherries for me. Montmorency seems to be easy to keep at 7 feet.
I have now used backyard orchard style pruning to keep harvest pedestrian (no ladders) style for a full decade. Works fantastic for me.

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for fresh eating i like monty but the romance cherries really shine in jams and pies. the 1st pie i made this year was a mix of camine and juliet. it was to die for! such richness and deep color. easily my favorite cherries for pies. havent tried monty in baking yet but the flavor seems to be not as rich as the romance ones. more tangy which i prefer for fresh eating. when i get enough for a pie ill make a comparison on here.

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I grow Utah Giant sweet. So that is what I have for fresh eating. I process all the tart cherries. UG is very firm and cracks easily but it’s still good if you harvest them. It’s sweet even before being fully ripe. Funny the flesh is yellow when it first turns red. It’s good at this stage. If you let it go flesh starts turning pink then a full red when fully ripe. No tartness at all at this stage. Which is great as fruit can struggle to have a high brix here. Not Utah Giant.

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