If I remember correctly, I’ve heard that they are juicier and not as firm as a traditional pie cherry. So there might be a noticeable texture difference when used in some dishes. Can anyone confirm?
Not noticeably less firm than montmorency which is our standard cherry in this area. We don’t grow a lot of cherries here because they are difficult to grow in this climate. CJ are by far better pie cherries than any others I’ve ever had. They are definitely pie cherries and not sweet cherries.
Thanks for the input, Clark. I want to give CJ a chance, but was concerned that picky people might reject them for being different than what they are accustomed to. I have that problem some of the people in my family. They don’t like change, even if I think it is an improvement.
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If you taste them, I don’t see how anybody could complain? Wonderful tart cherries.
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Aj,
They will have a hard time not liking them. There is one problem we have with them and that is when people go out with the bucket to pick them the bucket always comes back empty because they eat them!
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Here was my Carmine Jewel in bloom last year. This was on May 21 as I’m pretty far north. Production was pretty light considering so many blooms, a couple pounds maybe. I planted this in 2011 and they supposedly take a few years to ramp up, so here’s hoping for this year.
And here’s a pic from 2014 showing a comparison of the different kinds of cherries I have. That was the first year they all produced fruit. Canadian quarter is the same size as a US quarter. Evans is known as Bali in the US I think. It’s parentage is a bit of a mystery but it may be a hardy seedling of Montmorency. Juliet is the easiest to eat out of hand, with Cupid a close second. Carmine Jewel is pretty sour, at least under my conditions.
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