Northstar Cherries - Sour Cherries for Fresh Eating

Sweet cherries abound this time of year - then there are the Sour Cherries, which can be deucedly difficult to locate for fresh eating, but which most people have encountered in pies or as Maraschino Cherries.

The best of the Sour Cherries also make, while a bit tart, wonderful fresh eating cherries, with the advantage of pits so small that I do not worry about our toddler choking on one. In my opinion, the best of these is a relatively new variety called Northstar. It is the first widely released new sour cherry variety in over a century (Montmorency and Morello are more common, and they are about the only other varieties that can be easily found). Further, these can be had grafted to very dwarfing roots, so that the bearing tree is barely taller than my toddler and easily picked by him. Last year, he ate them all. This year, he has been watching it and carefully inspecting the green fruits for any blush of developing color. Today, the first cherries were ripe (or close enough for me to allow him to pick them...), and we had a minor picking party at the tree. Only two cherries made it to the house for mother and sister to try.