Mmmm, the cherry. No other fruit compares to its perfect, unblemished globe shape … the cool firmness of its ruby-red flesh … its sweet and tangy taste. It’s a seasonal favorite that seems to be abundant in the produce section one day and gone the next; something that I look forward to, mouth watering, from the very first day the temperature reaches summer-like status. A very versatile fruit, cherries are great for eating fresh, and wonderful in all sorts of recipes from crepes to chutneys.

The cherry’s “sweet” history …

Exactly where the cherry originated remains unclear, but the popular theory is that it came from somewhere between the Black and Caspian seas of Asia Minor and was carried by birds to Europe, where it grew wild. The Greek writer Theophrastus wrote about cherries around 300 BC, but historians believe that they were being cultivated long before Theophrastus’s time – possibly centuries. In the 16th century, cherries were grown in England and Germany, and in the 17th century, colonists brought the sweet fruits with them on their journey to New England. By that time, the English had developed nearly two dozen different cherry varieties. When the French settlers from Normandy came to the Midwest, they planted cherry pits along the Saint Lawrence River and in the vicinity of the Great Lakes.

It is a Presbyterian missionary from Michigan, Peter Dougherty, who can be credited with beginning modern-day cherry production. In 1852 he planted cherry trees near Traverse City, Michigan. Dougherty was told that the trees would fail to grow due to the climate, but much to everyone’s surprise, they flourished. It turns out that the climate was actually ideal there; the soil was sandy, perfect for cherry trees, and Lake Michigan cooled the orchards in the summer and tempered the frigid winds in the winter. Others began planting cherry trees, and the success of their growth brought the first commercial sour cherry orchard, Ridgewood Farm, in 1893. By the early 1900s, Traverse City was home to a booming cherry industry, which spread to the surrounding areas. The Traverse City Canning Company became the first cherry processing facility, and shipped its wares to cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit.

While sour cherries were becoming an industry in Michigan, sweet cherry orchards were thriving in the Willamette Valley near Salem, Oregon, thanks to a man named Henderson Luelling and his brother Seth (who spelled his last name “Lewelling”). Henderson had planted his orchard in 1847 using root stock from Iowa that he transported to Oregon by way of oxen. Seth joined his brother at his orchard and took over it in 1854, expanding it soon thereafter. He developed a sweet and succulent cherry, and he named the variety Bing, after a Manchurian workman who he employed during the 1870s and 1880s. The Lambert cherry also got its start on Lewelling Farms, but it was the Bing that became popular (and stayed that way; to this day, Bing cherries are the leading commercial variety of sweet cherry). In 1876, Lewelling Farms’ Bing cherries were exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and sold for a whopping three cents per cherry.