Sour cherry

Sour cherry

Sour cherry grows mainly in Europe and south-west Asia. As you can expect from the name, sour cherries have fruits that are quite acidic.

Sour cherries come in two varieties: the morello cherry (dark red color) and the amarelle cherry (lighter red color). The sour cherry is usually used in cooking, for example in soups and pork dishes, cakes, tarts, and pies. Sour cherries can be used to make jam or sauces, which can be used with ice cream. Sour cherries are also used in liqueurs and other drinks. Most people think that sour cherries are too sour to be eaten fresh.

See also sweet cherry.

Names

Scientific
   Prunus cerasus
English
   Pie cherry
   Sour cherry
   Tart cherry
Dutch
   Morel
   Zure kers
Spanish
   Cerezo ácido
   Cerezo de Morello
   Guindo
French
   Cerisier aigre
   Griottier
German
   Sauer-Kirsche
   Sauerkirsche
   Weichsel
   Weichselkirsche
Italian
   Amarasco
   Amareno
   Visciolo
Other
   Kriek

Taxonomy

Genus
   Prunus
Family
   Rosaceae
Order
   Rosales

Basic information and facts

Origin:

Sour cherries are native to part of Europe and south-west Asia.

Distribution:

Highest production of sour cherries is in Turkey, Poland, Russia, USA, Iran and Serbia

Evergreen or deciduous:

Deciduous

Flowers:

White flowers, often 2 or 4 together.

Leaves:

 

Fruits:

Round red fruits with a diamter of 15 to 20 mm.

Climate and weather:

Sour cherries grow in temperate climates in Europe and south-west Asia.

Pollination:

Sour cherries are self-pollinating. When many bees are present this will improve fruiting.

Height:

Sour cherry trees can be 4 to 10 meter high, usually about 6 meter.

Blooming period

Sour cherry blooms in spring and produces fruits in summer.

Type of soil:

Sour cherries prefer a rich, well-drained but moist soil. They don’t like waterlogging.

Spacing (close range)

6 meters

Spacing (wide range)

7.5 meters

Propagation:

Sour cherry is usually propagated by budding onto strong rootstocks.

Insect pests:

Sour cherries have not many insect problems, but are often damaged by birds.

Diseases:

 

Fruit development:

 

Harvesting:

Sour cherries have to be hand-picked when they are ripe.

Uses:

Unlike sweet cherries, sour cherries are too sour to be eaten fresh (although some people like them). The sour cherriy is often used in cooking, for example in soups and pork dishes, cakes, tarts, and pies. Sour cherries make an excellent jam and can be made into sauces to use on ice cream. Sour cherries are also often used in liqueurs and other drinks.

Proverbs and Quotes

These proverbs are about any cherries, not really about the sour ones.

• A cherry year, a merry year; a plum year, a dumb year.
• A dead cherry tree will not blossom.
• A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm.
• Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring
  breeze brings forth myriad blossoms.
• Don’t expect a cherry tree from an acorn.
• He who eats cherries with gentlemen risks getting the pips in
  his nose.
• He who likes cherries soon learns to climb.
• In the cherry blossom’s shade, there’s no such thing as a stranger.
• Life is just a bowl of cherries.
• Money buys cherries.
• Neither give cherries to pigs nor advice to fools.
• One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries
  taste.
• The cherry blossom among flowers, the warrior among men.
• The olive grove of your grandfather, the cherry trees of your
  father, and your grape vines.
• Without wine, even beautiful cherry blossoms have small attraction.
• Ye have a ready mouth for a ripe cherry.
• You need plant only one cherry and one plum tree.
• If you were looking at where you would like your career to go,
  then you would have to cherry pick The Stones. People love coming
  to see them. They are it, they are the most definitive rock n roll
  band ever. (Andy Taylor)
• About the woodlands I will go, to see the cherry hung with snow.
  (A.E. Housman)
• If life is a bowl of cherries, then what am I doing in the pits?
  (Erma Bombeck)
• The man for me is the cherry on the pie. But I’m the pie and
  my pie is good all by itself. Even if I don’t have a cherry. (Halle
  Berry)
• I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees.
  (Pablo Neruda)

Crop categories

Fruits
Food crops
Temperate crops

Pictures

Sour cherry


Sour cherry