Cherry peril

The California cherry season has always felt short and fleeting, with just 4 to 6 weeks of primetime. In recent years, it’s felt shorter than ever. To me, cherries are a classic symbol of early summer, but winter is really where it all happens. Cherries, like all stone fruit trees – and especially the classic cherry varieties we love like Bing and Rainier – require a certain number of winter chill hours. Chill hours are the literal cumulative winter hours that the tree spends exposed to temperatures in the range of 32F to 42F. The trees are dormant, but they require the chill time to ensure that come spring, they bloom properly and set a crop of fruit. Now, as our California winters become milder, threats to the summer cherry crop grow.

This year, the persistent Tule fog that blanketed the Central Valley in November, December, and January was actually a good thing for fruit trees’ chilling requirements. The lack of sunshine made for a tough, slow-ripening mandarin season, but for cherry trees, things were looking up. Then came the unprecedented heat wave in March. San Joaquin County, where more than half of California’s fresh cherry crop is grown, experienced the hottest March on record. This meant that everything started to bloom early, quickly, and all at the same time. It may not seem like a problem, but a compressed bloom period means greater risk to unforeseen weather events. An early crop also increases the likelihood that the fruit has to survive a spring storm.

It’s April, and I don’t know any cherry grower whose nerves are at ease. Cherries are most vulnerable in the weeks just before they are ready for harvest. Their skin is so delicate and porous that if serious rain falls, the trees drink up more water than the fruit can handle, causing the skin to crack and the fruit to spoil. Cherries grow in clusters of 2 to 6, which means a strong wind will jostle the ripe cherries against each other, causing unsightly bruising that makes them more susceptible to decay. And even mid-season varieties like Bings that aren’t close to being ripe may be damaged by rain and hail, causing lesions and dents in the fruit that persist as it matures. 

In late April, parts of San Joaquin County got up to three inches of rain and hail. This was bad news for the early varieties like Corals. I spoke to farmer Steve Chinchiolo of Chinchiolo Family Farms after their first pick and it was not looking good. There were so many quality issues in the orchard and on the packing line that he wasn’t sure if he could break even for this crop. It may not make sense to continue harvesting. The crew was selectively picking for quality in the field, only to then sort out 50% of the fruit that made it into the packing shed. In a “normal” year, whatever that means now, he loses about 20% of fruit during the sorting and packing process. He paid the crew to laboriously pick and sort the fruit, even if half of it couldn't be sold. He wasn’t sure it made financial sense. He would do some math and call me back.

Farmers are the most resilient, courageous, and toughest people I know. But this is a situation that grit alone can’t solve. With economics like this, there are no two ways about it. The long-term outlook for California cherry growers is dire. You can only stack up so many bad years in a row before people start tearing out orchards.

Steve called me back: the math penciled out, they would keep picking. The crew labored to bring us the most stunning, shiny, ripe, and delicious cherries this week. These Coral Champagne cherries are harvested by hand, cooled in a little packing shed in Escalon, then sorted, graded, and washed by hand before being packed and cooled again. They are a real labor of love. We’re grateful for every one of these Northern California cherries we can get. We’re hoping for a small shot of Bings and a good crop of Lapin cherries from Steve to close out the season. The season is fleeting! Store in the fridge. Grown organically in Ripon by Chinchiolo Family Farms aka Lucky You Orchards.

Today's fruit

In both FQ boxes:

Rose Diamond yellow nectarines from Masumoto Family Farm. Grown organically in Del Rey. Store on the counter.

San Joaquin blueberries from Coastal Moon Farm. Grown organically in Freedom. Store in the fridge.

Shasta Gold mandarins & Hass avocados from Limelight Groves. Grown organically in De Luz. Store on the counter.

In just the baby FQ boxes:

Griselet Charentais melon from Star Route Farms. Grown organically in Thermal. Store in the fridge.

And in the big FQ boxes:

Coral Champagne cherries from Chinchiolo Family Farms. Grown organically in Escalon. Store in the fridge.

Albion strawberries from Yerena Farms. Grown organically in Watsonville. Store in the fridge.

Star Ruby grapefruit from Limelight Groves. Grown organically in De Luz. Store on the counter.