Not only beautiful but also delicious – Montmorency tart cherries are literally in our backyard, and it’s blooming season! Bloom typically occurs right around Mother’s Day weekend, bringing additional beauty across the north. It’s no coincidence that Graceland Fruit is headquartered in Michigan…it is the Cherry Capital of the World! In fact, Graceland Fruit was founded by Michigan tart cherry growers as an agricultural cooperative to facilitate the processing and marketing of their annual harvest.
Michigan provides the ideal environment for cherries. Well-drained sandy soil, sloped sites to help avoid spring frost, icy cold waters, and full sun create a cool, temperate climate that nurtures the orchards from bloom to harvest. More than two-thirds of the US Montmorency tart cherry crop is grown here on small family farms.
Cherry orchards are dormant from October to March, setting next spring’s buds when temperatures remain below 45°F. Every two or three years, pruning is conducted during this dormant period. Blooms appear in May when temperatures rise above 45°F. Each bloom turns into a single tart cherry. Harvest is fast and furious…lasting only a few weeks in late July to early August. Two-piece mechanical harvesters surround the trunk of each tree, shake it, and catch the cherries as they drop. It only takes about 10 seconds to harvest each tree! The cherries are cooled, transported, and placed into cold storage, all within 4-5 hours of harvest. From there, they are de-stemmed, washed, optically sorted for size and quality, pitted, and quick frozen.
After a freezing period, the cherries are ready for processing – this is when the magic happens! Frozen (IQF) cherries are brought into our facility from outside warehousing. We use our proprietary process to gently transform each fresh-frozen cherry into the premium infused dried cherries that our founder first invented! Graceland Fruit founder Don Nugent was known as an inventor, a developer, and a marketer and had a remarkable vision for the fruit industry. When Graceland Fruit was founded, tart cherries were used almost exclusively for pie filling. In 1976, Don pioneered the study on the infused dried fruit process, bringing to market the first infused dried cherry, exponentially expanding the market for tart cherries by creating entirely new applications and year-round utilization opportunities for the crop.
The harvesting of tart cherries is a unique process to see. This quick video gives you a first-hand look into cherry harvest.
Learn more about Montmorency Cherries at Choose Cherries
Meet some of our growers
