Cherries are a versatile little fruit. Not only are they a delicious, sweet, and healthy treat but they are commonly used as garnishes for drinks and desserts. This adds a little flavor but also makes it look nice.
While they do add a level of aesthetics to a dish, it’s in your best interest not to discard the cherry but instead to eat it. In fact, it’s beneficial to be in the habit of eating many cherries on a regular basis.
Sour cherries, especially, come with a whole host of health benefits that many may not realize they have. Even if you aren’t a fan of the tartness and prefer a sweet cherry for a snack, tart cherries can be consumed dried, frozen, juiced, or even in a smoothie.
Firstly, like any brightly colored fruit, they are an excellent source of antioxidants which are essential to the maintenance of overall health and wellness. The same is true for some other fruits that you can order online, like cranberries and blueberries.
They are also rich in fiber, protein, copper, potassium, and many vitamins and minerals.
Tart cherries are often used by athletes as regular consumption can help build muscle strength as well as ease soreness and aid in recovery.
When taken before bed it can also help you sleep better. This is due to its high amount of tryptophan and anthocyanins – two compounds that can help the body create melatonin and improve both the quality and duration of sleep. This is backed by some research as well as several sleep studies.
There have also been studies that look at the sour cherry’s effect on brain health, immune support, arthritis relief, and much more. These claims are in the early stages of study and aren’t a guarantee, but the fact remains that some have seen and experienced these benefits.
While it’s fairly easy to find dried or powdered cherries online, finding fresh sour cherries for sale can be more difficult as most people prefer to eat sweet cherries. This is when you can turn directly to the farmers rather than searching through larger retail stores.
Many will even deliver straight to you so you don’t even have to leave the house!
Table of Contents
Where to Buy Fresh Sour Cherries Online
- King Orchards
- Honeyberry USA
- Frank Farms
- Northwest Wild Foods
1. King Orchards
King Orchards is run by a family of passionate farmers who tend to the crops and take care of all other work together. They welcome visitors and love spreading the joy that they get from what they do. If you do pay a visit to the farm they have plenty to offer you. There’s fruit-picking, fresh baked goods, and an amazing family-oriented feeling of community.
At King Orchards, they really love cherries. This is the focus of their farm, with more than 140 acres of Montmorency tart cherries. They also grow Balaton cherries and black sweet cherries. The farm is located right on the outskirts of Michigan’s cherry growing region, with glacier-formed ridges and beautiful rolling hills.
While they really love their cherries, they don’t stop there. They also grow and harvest peaches, plums, apples, pears, apricots, and nectarines. You can buy their fruit fresh off the vine or tree and have it shipped right to your door.
Or, you can browse their many other offerings from their online shop. Their selection includes fresh and handmade jellies, jams, juices, spreads, and more. You can also get capsule forms of their cherries which is a great way to get a daily dose of the powerful nutrients a cherry has to offer.
They also offer their fruit to breweries for the unique purpose of putting the fruits into beer, wine, or hard cider. The cherries especially make an amazing cherry beer, with many customers reporting festival and competition wins after entering beer made with their cherries.
The farm has two locations, both of which offer fruit picking and same-day pickup of your order. They will also do deliveries to certain areas throughout Michigan.
2. Honeyberry USA
Honeyberry USA began with a passion for honeyberries. These berries are fun and unique and not nearly as commonplace as some believe they should be. The berry itself is long and skinny, as opposed to short and round like most berries. It’s blue in color and has a very thin skin.
The flavor is difficult to describe. Some have likened it to blackberries while others feel it tastes more like a kiwi. Honeyberry USA doesn’t try to identify a specific flavor profile and instead says it’s more of a “mystery flavor” that you need to experience for yourself.
Not only do the berries have a unique, zesty flavor but they’re quite interesting in many other ways as well. They are often the first fruits to bloom in many areas as the plants can easily withstand very cold temperatures. They are also highly bug and pest resistant, making them a great option for organic farming.
While their focus is on growing and perhaps bringing more awareness to this unique berry, it’s not the only thing they have to offer. They have a selection of other less common berries as well, including goji berries, elderberries, seaberries, gooseberries, arctic raspberries, and aronias.
When it comes to more common fruits, they have cranberries and cherries. They have four cherry varieties available, including the Romeo cherry, Juliet cherry, the Evans cherry, and their tartest one – the Carmine Jewel cherry.
They ship their cherries along with other fruits throughout the United States. They do only ship at certain times of the year, depending on harvest seasons. You can see their schedule and shipping dates on the website.
3. Frank Farms
Frank Farms is a small, friendly, family farm run by people who are passionate about fruit. Locally, they run a fresh fruit stand and u-pick services, where you can go and pick your own fruit at certain times of the year. You can also use their website to create an order before going to pick it up.
If you’re not local, they do offer their fruits shipped, as well as other farm-fresh products like their fruit juices and concentrates. They do have designated picking seasons and will sell plenty of fresh fruit, but they do freeze plenty as well so they can continue selling throughout the year.
Currently, they offer both sweet and sour cherries. Their sour, or tart, cherries are the common Montmorency variety. They also have apricots, black raspberries, blueberries, peaches, red raspberries, rhubarb, and strawberries available at their farms and on the website.
4. Northwest Wild Foods
Northwest Wild Foods is a small, family-owned company that is passionate about natural, wild foods. They have a huge selection of foods to choose from, but they do specialize in rare and hard to find fruits. They have been in operation since 1988 and are always working hard to improve their selection, find new things to offer, and only produce the absolute best quality.
They offer both sweet and tart cherries for sale from their website, as well as tart cherry powder and tart cherry pie. They also have a number of smoothie recipes that include tart cherries if you’re interested in using them that way. For those who don’t know much about tart cherries, they have some articles and information about the associated health benefits.
In addition to fruit, they also have a huge selection of seafood, mushrooms, nuts, pies, and other fruit powders. They also have a recipe section with recipes for their seafood, mushrooms, nuts, and more in addition to the smoothies.
They work really hard to support all those striving to live a healthy and more natural lifestyle. They have products that are vegan, USDA certified organic, non-GMO, kosher, and gluten-free.
Things to Consider When Having Sour Cherries Delivered
Sour cherries are a great thing to have around, but you need to make sure you’re getting them from a good quality farm, and that you’re getting the right type of cherry for what you want. Take some time to think about these things before making an order anywhere:
The Difference Between Sweet and Sour
Sweet cherries are more common for eating fresh and plain, so a lot of farms or other places might push or advertise these a little more. If you’re specifically looking for sour cherries, make sure it’s indeed sour cherries that you’re purchasing before you place an order.
If they’re not simply labeled “sweet” and “tart” then you should try to be familiar with the different cherry varietals. For example, the Montmorency cherry is the most common type of sour cherry. Look for this name when seeking out fresh sour cherries for sale.
Where They Come From
Sour cherries can only grow in specific conditions, meaning they’re not available everywhere. Most sour cherries are produced in Michigan. If you’re ordering from a farm in Michigan, your odds of getting good cherries are pretty high.
If it’s outside of this known sour cherry production area, just make sure they’re still growing them properly and producing good quality fruit. It’s not impossible to grow them elsewhere, but less common.
The Cost
The shelf life of a fresh sour cherry isn’t terribly long, so you should be prepared to consider the cost of expedited shipping. Depending on your intended use of the cherries, dried or powdered may be a suitable alternative if you’re looking to save money.
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