The Loss of This Year's Cherry Crop

It's CHERRY season!

 The 4th of July is always a fun holiday in my opinion because compared to other holidays its quite relaxing.  My family never had a particular traditional for this holiday, although when I look back I realize celebrations were usually included close family or friends that depended on the local enjoying a truly American meal somewhere near a body of water and possible, but not always a firework show. Since moving to the northwest from the never changing scenery of Southern California I've become accustomed to what seasonal living is like.  Where as in California Memorial day in late May was always a good time to be outside at the beach, in Oregon its generally still chilly and often rainy at that time.  By 4th of July, however, sunshine is pretty much a given.  Another thing that is given around 4th of July is the ripening of the cherries on my sour cherry tree.  Market cherries begin to ripen around the middle of June in our area depending on the location of the orchard and the variety. For the last three years, my cherry tree has reliably been ready for picking the week before or after the 4th. This 4th of July weekend just passed however and there were no cherries from my tree.  In fact the weekend brought with it a sad recollection of this year's cherry crop loss but also triumph in finding a nearby U-Pick orchard with amazing trees!

Harvesting market cherries on a hot day.

A young patch of cherry trees at Root Orchard in Mosier, OR.

Two weeks earlier I went on a three day weekend trip to Joseph, OR (which you can briefly read about here).  The days leading up to the trip were jam packed with food preparation, putting the house in order for a three day absence without supervision and last minute tasks to finish up at work.  On that particular Monday I noticed the cherries on my sour cherry tree, which I can view from the kitchen window, looking particularly vibrant.  At first I thought nothing of it other than how beautiful the bright red was contrasted against the dark green leaves.  No notice was paid to the tree on Tuesday, but I Wednesday I stopped and thought "I wonder if they are ripe? It has been quite an early season after all!" I stumbled upon Thursday faster than I would have liked and all day long I thought I really ought to pick some cherries. I was worried they'd be over ripe by the time I got back from my short trip.  Picking cherries is not time consuming and I actually find it quite relaxing.  What to do with the harvest was the quandary that kept my from picking that day (not to mention last minute packing). Usually I make cherry pie filling. The fruit on this tree is really too sour for much else (though I'd like to dry some in the future but I'm still in the process of finding the right dehydrator for my wants and needs). Even though picking is a swift process, pitting cherries and processing filling can not be expedited.  So I took a deep breath and acknowledged that I could not get everything done and crossed my fingers that the cherries would still be good when I returned.

A close up of cherries in a local orchard.

Sadly that was not the case.  The weekend I was gone and the entire week after I returned was really raining. Unseasonably raining.  Anyone who lives in an agricultural area with cherry orchards and industry can tell you that rain and ripening cherries do not mix.  It usually means a significant loss in the crop because the cherries split.  What I found when I first examined my sad looking crop was not only split cherries but some that were completely covered in mildew and mold, most were just rotten and those that did look salvageable were home to one or two worms per cherry! It was quite a disaster, but not something a seasonal eater can dwell on.  Truth be told, I usually struggle to use up all the pie filling I can so a year without it might do me some good.  The cherries were not left to rot on the tree further however.  I picked them and fed some to the happy hens (after all they contained an extra dose of protein!) and froze the rest in quart size baggies to serve as chicken treats during the winter.

Look at the fourth cherry from the bottom. Mold!

The same image without the flash shows dark spots which indicate rotting.

The happy hens enjoyed the spoiled, but not mildewy, cherries.

Luckily, I was not left completely devoid of cherries this season.  Some nearby farms had a decent crop it turns out (not as a good as normal but not nearly as bad as it could have been thanks to later ripening varieties and a slightly dryer micro climate). So per the usual 4th of July week tradition, I went to a u-pick farm to harvest some Bing cherries for my self created Chipotle Cherry BBQ sauce recipe. We picked 16 pounds in all (the friend I brought along was a litter zealous since it was his first time). We went to a farm I had never been to before that turned out not only to be slightly cheaper per pound, but their trees were much newer and more plentiful in a condensed manner which makes picking super easy. The whole process of driving to the farm and picking 16 pounds took less than one hour!

A young cherry orchard with dense fruit.

Picking cherries is fast and easy!

But as I mentioned earlier, picking is the easy part. I still had a ton of cherries to wash, pit and put up somehow. First on my list of priorities was making a big batch of Chipotle Cherry BBQ sauce so that I could put some reserves on my shelf and have enough to give some as gifts for Christmas.  First I washed and picked out the berries with stems. These were to be saved for munching on throughout the next week or two (cherries with the stems still attached keep longer in the refrigerator).  Next I pitted 4 quarts (around 8 lbs I think) of cherries to make the sauce.  After canning was finished, I pitted the remaining cherries to be frozen for use in desserts, smoothies or other recipes throughout the year.  All that processing happened in one day followed by a small dinner of Chipotle Cherry Chicken wings with a few friends to celebrate the harvest.

The end result: a yummy bowl of plump cherries!