Sour Cherry Recipes: Our All-Time Favorites - Umami Girl (2024)

FAQs

What is one of the most popular sour cherries? ›

Montmorency Cherries

These red cherries are the most popular sour variety, which doesn't mean they're never enjoyed as a snack, but they are more often cooked, dried, canned, or frozen. They're also squeezed for their juice and used in pie filling, jams, and preserves.

Tart cherries (scientific name Prunus cerasus) are also called sour cherries. They are best known as a key ingredient in desserts; most importantly, the cherry pie. However, tart cherries are also delicious in preserves, main courses, salads, side dishes and beverages.

And unlike other cherries, which can be eaten out of hand, sour cherries are best when cooked and sweetened. Using sour cherries is simpler than you might think—they are delicious in drinks, soups, entrées, and desserts for a sweet and tangy surprise.

Unlike sweet cherries, one of the most important differences with sour cherries is that most are self-pollinating – you only need one tree to harvest a full crop. The trees are also naturally smaller, so they fit into smaller gardens so easily.

Prunus cerasus (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe, North Africa and West Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry (Prunus avium), but has a fruit that is more acidic. Its sour pulp is edible.

Super Fruit Health Benefits of Sour - or Tart - Cherries

In more recent studies, the term “super fruit” has become associated with the Sour Cherry. This is due to the high antioxidant values the Sour Cherry possesses.

Also, Cherries simply come and go quite quickly, so it is rare to find cherries on sale or offered at a low price. The reason cherries are so expensive is because fungicides are required to keep the fruits in good shape and not lose them completely.

Grown in Michigan, Montmorency cherries are the most popular sour cherries in the U.S. You can typically find them frozen or canned, rather than fresh. Classic sour cherry pies are typically made with this variety. They're also used to make tart cherry juice.

Sweet cherries have better anti-inflammatory properties than their tart counterparts. They contain more considerable amounts of anthocyanin phytonutrients, a compound that gives cherries their signature red hue. This compound has been linked to reduced risks for heart disease, plaque formation, and cancer.

Numerous gardeners have complained about finding the little white worms in cherries just at harvest time. These worms are the larvae of a fruit fly that has been a pest in Japan for decades but somehow made it to the US. It has no known enemies in the US, so it has spread, unchecked, like wildfire.

What does sour cherry do for the body? ›

Sour cherry is used for osteoarthritis, muscle pain, exercise-related muscle damage, gout, insomnia, to increase urine production, and to help digestion. In foods, sour cherries are eaten as a food or flavoring. In manufacturing, sour cherry is used to make cherry syrup for drugs with an unpleasant taste.

You'll reap cherry benefits regardless of whether you like your stone fruit sweet or sour. Sweet cherries may be more delightful for your tastebuds when you eat them by the handful. Tart cherries are often used in baking. “Aim for one cup of fresh cherries a day or a quarter-cup of dried ones,” suggests Sedlacek.

Montmorency, Morello, and Balaton are all sour cherry varieties. They're usually soft, and smaller than sweet cherries. Some are sweet-tart, others are so sour your cheeks pucker. Use them to bake pie, crumbles, compotes, salsas, and to top yogurt.

Morello cherries refer to a family of sour cherries that have become popular for their use in pies and other baked goods. Like Montmorency cherries, Morello cherries are very tart and far too sour for most to enjoy raw.

Prunus cerasus 'Sweet Thing'

Sweet Thing really lives up to its name! Sweeter, firmer, and larger than most sour cherries, this variety is worth trying if you're a fan of Bing or BC cherries. Most sour cherries average 3-4 grams, whereas Sweet Thing produces cherries that average 5-6 grams.

Grown on small family farms in North America, Montmorency tart cherries are truly “The Cherry With More,” with their on-trend sweet-sour taste and unique nutrient profile. Montmorency tart cherries have been studied more than any other type of cherry – and the evidence is growing.

Montmorency, Morello, and Balaton are all sour cherry varieties. They're usually soft, and smaller than sweet cherries. Some are sweet-tart, others are so sour your cheeks pucker. Use them to bake pie, crumbles, compotes, salsas, and to top yogurt.