Rainier Cherries is the one thing about summer I love. I have to be careful with how many I eat since they aren't very low carb. (See fact 4 below.) They are like nature's candy.
From The Stem Blog, here's seven Rainier Cherry facts:
1. Bing + Van = Rainier cherry variety. In 1952,Harold Fogel and other researchers from the Washington Agriculture Experiment Station in Prosser, WA crossed the two well-known red cherry varieties using traditional breeding methods of crossing pollen.
2. The name for this cherry comes from Washington State’s largest mountain, Mt. Rainier. Rainier cherries are large in size, so it’s fitting they were named after our state’s most mammoth mountain.
3. Rainier cherries are a dream snack of birds. One of the most common problems Rainier cherry growers face is pesky birds snackin’ on the crop.
4. Rainier cherries tend to grow a size larger than their dark sweet counterparts. They are also a high sugar (or Brix) cherry. This may not be the best kept secret, but Rainier cherries are naturally big and super-sweet. One-fifth each cherry is sugar!
5. Rainier cherries are a common pollenizer for dark-sweet cherry trees. Rainier cherry trees are often planted between dark-sweet cherry trees in orchard rows in order to provide a different pollen source for bees during the important cherry bloom stage. That’s because most cherry varieties need two sources of pollen for their blossoms to be successfully pollinated by bees.
6. Rainier is the only cherry (we know of) with its own holiday. National Rainier Cherry Day happens every July 11th.
7. Rainier cherries are most often eaten fresh, but also make a great ingredient in sweet and savory summer recipes.
