With four or five varieties now on the market between April and June, Californian cherries are commanding greater recognition year-on-year. Early season varieties have already started with Sequoia and Brooks cherries arriving a few days earlier than usual, in the third week of April. Titon and Tulare are due to take over towards the middle of May, with the main variety, Bing, scheduled for the last week of the month.
Matt Hancock, director of wholesale and retail supplier Norton Folgate, says while the volume of Brooks is expected to exceed last year’s exports, Tulare varies across different regions and Bing is slightly down on last year. Yet, Hancock remains optimistic about the coming season. “Overall the crop is very slightly down on last season, but sizing is looking good which should make up the shortfall in total numbers of cartons,” he says.
Given the crop’s sensitivity to changing weather patterns, it is crucial for Californian cherry growers to keep a close eye on crop development to keep suppliers informed as the season approaches. To this end they have developed a highly sophisticated model which allows them to predict harvesting times and sizes and keep UK importers up to date almost on a daily basis, enabling them to offer retailers accurate comparisons with historical data.
Despite the increased uptake in Californian cherries, they still only account for a very small percentage owing to their unfortunate timing, according to Somerfield’s fresh produce buyer, Alastair Swan. “The main cherry season in the UK is July to August, which is when demand is at its highest,” he says. “Californian cherries are available outside of this season, therefore consumer demand is usually the same each year.”
However, David Job, fruit buyer at Marks & Spencer, says good quality Californian produce is well received by customers. “Californian fruit has not historically been the best fruit of the season but quality standards have improved in recent years,” says Job. “This first fruit of the season is always warmly welcomed by our customers who have not been able to buy fresh cherries since the end of the southern hemisphere season in February.”
Faced with a likely overlap with imported cherries from Spain and Turkey, Californian cherries have a very restricted window of opportunity to make an impact. However, the recent instability in Spain’s weather may open up the gap for the US early varieties.
“We are expecting that the weather will delay the Spanish start to late May which gives an opportunity for California to dominate the early seasonal market, which is what happened last year,” says Rick Kitchen, retail director at JO Sims.
With a significant period of time left before the Spanish harvest is due, Hancock says it is too soon to make a clear judgement although Californian varieties have a distinct point of difference. “Early varieties such as Brooks, Titon and Tulare are better eating than the Spanish equivalent at a similar time,” he claims. “The fruit is also firmer, and generally has better shelf life and appearance than some of the soft early Spanish varieties like Burlat, Early Lorry, Early Bigi and 470.”
Job agrees, citing this reason for Marks & Spencer’s decision not to stock Spanish varieties at all. Waitrose similarly allows Californian cherries to dominate the shelves for the early season, depending on the quality of the fruit, says Matt Foster, business unit manager at the store’s category supplier, Utopia. “We’ve always held off on Brooks until it justifies the right eating quality that our customers require for the prices paid,” he says. “We never buy from Spain and concentrate on California until the Turkish season is in full flow.”
Owing to the expense of transporting the fruit from the US, Californian cherries will always command a higher price than their European counterparts. In addition demand is high across the globe from Japan, Taiwan and other Asian countries since Californian are the first cherries on the world map, says Kitchen.
However, it is widely agreed that the process of air-freighting the fruit ensures a higher level of quality, as well as a faster delivery time. Jim Culbertson, general manager at the Californian Cherry Advisory Board, says: “One of the main reasons the fruit tastes so good is because once the cherries are picked, they are washed and packed and whisked on board air freighters within 24 hours, going on sale in the UK another day later. Fresh from tree to fruit bowl in 48 hours.”
Job says that problems with quality are infrequent provided the fruit is chilled promptly by hydro-cooling as quickly as possible after picking and is handled properly throughout the chain. According to the CCAB cherries should ideally be kept at 0°C, with cherry display cases refrigerated overnight to maximise shelf life. And misting them with water in-store should be avoided to maintain quality.
Most suppliers agree that the highlight of the season is the Bing variety, which the CCAB is working particularly hard to promote this year, despite the prospect of a lighter fruit setting suggesting volumes to be slightly down on last year’s record crop. Having recently visited various orchards around the San Joaquin County, Culbertson says: “Most of the fruit is currently hard and green and continues to be growing well. While California has experienced a wetter than normal spring, this has only led to lack of need for irrigation. The cherries are clean and in excellent shape.” The crop is expected to arrive up to two weeks early this year, in time for the last week of May.
Neil Gordon, ceo of NMG Consulting, CCAB’s UK representative, says the big, juicy, dark-red Bings are an important fixture in the cherry calendar. “They are bigger in size and tastier than cherries from other sources and usually herald the start of the English summer,” says Gordon. “Consumers like the colour and eating experience of the Bings. We have found that once they sample the cherries, they buy and then come back for more.”
For this reason the CCAB has organised free tastings of Bing cherries in various supermarkets throughout the country, in conjunction with the “Treat yourself to a taste of Bings” point of sale material to be displayed in-store.
According to the CCAB, cherries are very nutritious and offer various health benefits, which will be reflected in the promotional material. They are a good source of vitamin A, potassium and fibre and an average portion of 20 cherries contains only 90 calories, and counts towards the recommended 5 A DAY allowance. In addition, the US Department of Agriculture’s Research Service (ARS) has issued a report suggesting fresh cherries may help to alleviate the symptoms of arthritis.
“Results of a preliminary study by ARS scientists and their university colleagues suggest that some natural compounds in plump, juicy Bing cherries may reduce painful arthritic inflammation. Eating cherries may also help lessen the severity of other inflammatory conditions, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer,” it says.
Job says Marks & Spencer will roll out some form of promotional activity for its Californian cherries later in the season when there is good availability of fruit and he is expecting demand for early season cherries to keep rising. Kitchen shares this sentiment and claims JO Sims is fully focused on California from late April to early May he says the company will be working to develop the early season offer to accommodate and expand the existing demand.
“The further forward we push the season in California the bigger the market can develop,” Kitchen explains. “We will be looking to go further south in California and develop the early varieties to get earlier cropping and greater production. Earlier varieties are generally lower yield with higher production costs so our aim is to get production costs down, and to get a higher acreage because it is important to have the numbers as well as the earlier date in order to develop the market.”
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