They are a sure sign of summer.
Okanagan cherries usually ripen and start to show up at roadside farm stands and on grocery store produce displays just as spring turns into summer on June 21.
But with a cool and rainy late spring and early summer, cherries are almost two weeks behind, meaning they are making their much-anticipated 2022 debut just now.
"The crop will also be lighter this year, for those same reasons," said Glen Lucas, general manager of the BC Fruit Growers' Association.
"But the good news is, the cherries that are coming to market are bigger than usual and they are quality in colour, firmness and sweetness, too."
In other words, you're in for a treat if you pick up some Okanagan cherries this week.
As cherries ripen, rain is the enemy because moisture can cause them to split and delegates them to the compost bin.
That's why, over the past week, you may have seen helicopters hovering over cherry orchards or farmers driving their tractors between rows of trees with a big fan on the back whirling.
The forced air movement dries the rain off the cherries and saves them for fresh eating.
Cherries are domestic and exotic at the same time.
Yes, they are grown locally -- more than 16,000 tons a year on more than 5,000 acres of cherry orchards.
But, they also seem tropical and glamourous in all their shiny red, sweet and perfect bite-sized glory.
That combination is also what makes cherries a desirable cash crop.
Pristine cherries from the Okanagan can fetch up to $5 a pound retail and possibly more if exported to finicky markets like Japan.
Apples are still king when it comes to Okanagan tree fruit crops with more than 110,000 tons produced annually from 6,700 acres of orchards and an economic impact of more than $410 million annually.
Cherries comparably have smaller tonnage at 16,000, smaller acreage at 5,000 and smaller economic impact at almost $300 million.
However, apple production and acreage is going down slightly every year as orchardists switch some land to cherries or grapes for better return on investment.
In fact, since 2015 there's been a 28% increase in cherry acreage and 8% decrease in apple acreage.
The fresh cherry season was traditionally short, essentially only a month from late June to late July.
However, with the introduction of late-ripening varieties, the season has stretched into September, increasing the cherry's prowess for consumers, farmers, distributors and retailers.
The most common early-ripening cherries in the Okanagan are Tieton, Chelan and Van.
The most common late-ripeners are Lapins, Skeena , Sweetheart, Sovereign, Sentennial and Staccato.
Fun fact -- all those varieties that start with a 'S' match the first letter in Summerland, which is where they were all invented at the Summerland Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Station.
Staccato is the top cherry variety grown in the Okanagan, followed by Lapin.
Together the two account for 46% of all cherry production in the Valley.
The No. 1 way to eat a cherry is undeniably fresh, simply pull off the stem, pop it in your mouth, bite and work the pit out with your tongue and enjoy.
If you must, cherries can also be used to make pies, tarts, cheesecake, crepes, crisp or cobbler, pudding, ice cream, chutney or salsa, juice, jams and jellies, barbecue sauce for duck, chicken or pork or preserved as a maraschino to garnish your cocktails or be the venerable 'cherry on top' of your sundae.
