When I married my husband, I met his folks...they were from Escanaba Michigan...one of the funniest and poignant moments came when his father sang the "Family Song"  "Cherries are ripe, Cherries are ripe, the birds in the trees sing cherries are ripe" On his death bed, with his family surrounding him, we all sang this song...he softly mouthing the words...being a good son of Michigan, cherries were one of his delights...ergo we discover the wonderful world of Cherries. Did you know that a new method of producing a low fat ground beef product has come from cherries...ground cherries mixed with meat is producing a low fat, flavorful meat product that is truly heart smart and juicy....

The leading producer of tart cherries is Michigan, producing 70 to 75 percent of the crop each year. Utah grows about 8 percent of the crop; New York, about 5 percent; Wisconsin, 4 percent. Washington, Oregon and Pennsylvania also have commercial crops of tart cherries. 

The amount of tart cherries produced each year varies, depending on a number of factors, including the age of the trees and weather conditions. Generally, Michigan produces 200 to 250 million pounds of tart cherries; the U.S. crop is 275 to 350 million pounds. The 1999 U.S. tart cherry crop was 251 million pounds; the 1998 crop was 349 million pounds. In 1997, the total U.S. tart cherry harvest was 293 million pounds. 

The major variety of tart cherry grown in the United States is the Montmorecy. It has been cultivated in the United States for more than a century because the fruit is excellent for pies, preserves, jellies, juice and other products. 

Tart cherries, which are sometimes called pie cherries or sour cherries, are seldom sold fresh; they generally are canned or frozen shortly after harvesting for use in products throughout the year.

Sweet cherries primarily are grown in the Pacific Coast states, but Michigan joins the top four producers, harvesting about 20 percent of the crop each year. Michigan produces about 50 million pounds of sweet cherries. The total U.S. production of sweet cherries is about 370 million pounds; about 175 million pounds of that is processed and are packed as frozen or canned sweet cherries or as maraschino or glacé cherries. 

The most famous sweet cherry variety is the Bing cherry. However, there are more than 1,000 varieties of sweet cherries. Bing cherries are a dark red/burgundy color. there also are light sweet cherry varieties, such as Rainier and Queen Anne.

For more complete Cherry Information follow these links:

http://www.cherrymkt.org/

http://www.agmall.com/door-county-cherries/

http://www.nwcherries.com/nwcher.html