Montmorency is easily the most popular traditional sour cherry tree with a reputation for prolific yields. CJ seems to be the “Montmorency of the bush cherry world” with a reputation for prolific yields and great tasting sour cherries.
Take the tree form out of the equation. Assume they both grow on the same tree! Which produces a better cherry for baking, juicing, fresh eating? If you had a 5lb bowl of cherries would you rather them be Montmorency or Carmine Jewell? Describe their flavor and how they differ in both size and flesh-to-pit ratio.
In my experience, I would lean to the Monty. If left on the tree and picked when dead ripe, they seem quite a lot more sweet to me. On the other hand, I have described the CJ in the past as that feeling when you taste a dry wine, and that for me hasn’t changed. Monty will also have a very distinctive cherry aroma, that I do not detect on the CJ’s.
I think both make excellent pies!
Pies and jams are a bright red on Monty, whereas they’re more of a dark purple with CJ’s. (I like the dark look of the jam and pie of CJ’s better)
I’ve NEVER experienced a rain crack on a Monty (or my ER) but I’ve had two years where a ton of my CJ’s rain cracked.
Love the ease of maintenance on the bush cherries, but overall I could not live w/o the Monty/Early Richmond type of cherry.
Carmine Jewell are my favorite for eating fresh of the two. Montmorency can be pitted using a cherry pitter in most cases. CJ cannot be used typically with most pitters. CJ has a very tiny pit which though it doesn’t work well with a pitter it is highly desirable for juice because the flesh pit ratio is excellent. When making juice the pit and pulp are left behind so I prejer CJ out of the two for juice. Montmorency is a great cherry and don’t recommend living without it . Great pie cherries! Easy spraying, easy picking etc with CJ because of its size. It’s like making me chose between my house or truck to ask me to chose one of them.
Thanks for the info. I should get a chance this year to taste fresh Monty. Looking forward to it. Will be a couple more years before I get a significant crop.
I remember @scottfsmith once said that Monty is superior for cherry juice because it has that classic “quenching” flavor. I agree with this characterization. I like to buy Montmorency concentrate from King Orchards of Michigan and cut it with ice water. It’s like drinking a cherry pie!
I’ve not yet had a chance to try Carmine Jewel, so my comments are skewed.
I remember the UMass Fruit Advisor Jon Clements say that Balaton makes a superior pie.
I’m curious about why you chose Carmine Jewel, when I consider most of the other Romance Cherry series to be much superior to CJ? Personally I would chose Juliet or Cupid over CJ in a heartbeat – the former have much larger cherries and they are far less tart so can be eaten out-of-hand, whereas CJ is a mouth-puckerer. I don’t grow Crimson Passion, but it is supposed to be very good also. I’ve only had one good year of yields but CJ did out-yield my other Romance varieties by 25-50%, so it may win in the yield category.
Very good comparison pictures Don, I only grow the Evans as for some reason ( as I said on another thread) the U of S cherries winter killed for me more than once and I am not that far from where they were developed. Maybe it is the micro climate I put them in, I only have a small hill and I saved the choicest spots for the least hardy of my fruit trees and both Evans and Montmorency gained a spot there. I assumed the U of S ones could hold their own.
I have fruited Evans (Bali), Carmine Jewel, Montmorency, Balaton and Montmorency stands out for the aromatic quality of the flavor it imparts to baked goods, juice, perserves. CJ is more satisfying to me out of hand for the meatier flesh, larger size, but I’m not too big on sour cherries for fresh eating. I haven’t tried the other Romance series cherries which are reputed to be sweeter. I did have crimson passion that weirdly died after the winter before last, possible cambium injury.
which of the two are more firm when ripe? My CJ’s were delicious last summer, they hung on the tree for a very long time and sweetened up almost to the same brix as my Black Gold sweet cherries but were extremely soft. Im not sure they would hold up well in a pie.
Prolly depends how long you leave them on the bush… Mine got fairly soft when the approached 16 brix, but they still arent as watery as MM get. If you want a firmer cherry pick them a little less ripe maybe? Im really hoping for some CP cherries this year!!! Bushes look great, over 6ft tall and still dont have a single cherry off the two I have planted.
Yeah I let them hang red about 2 weeks, probably could have let them hang more. For pie you want them tart. I’m going to do pie this year, if I get enough. I moved the plant and was worried it might abort fruit buds, but it is getting ready to flower like mad. I only have a 3 foot bush, so I might not get enough. I had two last year, I gave one away to a member here.I added Juliet, so in a couple years I’ll be doing fine.
Last year I had few CJ on my bushes for the first time. It wasn’t quite enough for a pie, so I had to wait a few days for Montmorency to ripen. This year, Montmorency is ripe ahead of CJ. It seems they both ripen within a week of each, but not necessarily in the same order.
