Washington is the in the top three of producers for 22 different varieties of produce being the No. 1 producers in 10 of those categories.
Apples reign supreme as the largest crop in the state. That’s not surprising but what may be is that cherries bring nearly $500M to the state annually.
Many will know why but if you don’t it’s because of the Rainier cherry. The Rainier was developed in 1952 at Washington State University and is a cross of the Van cherry from Canada and the Bing cherry from Oregon. Coincidentally this premium cherry cropped up right between them.
Soon, we will be seeing the firstfruits of the cherry season coming through and we wanted to take this opportunity to share some fun facts about the second-most famous commodity to come out of Washington.
Despite their popularity globally; a single Rainier can cost up to $1 in Japan, Rainiers are difficult to grow. Despite being the offshoot of two red cherry varieties, Rainiers have a golden skin with a light-red blush. This leads to visible bruising and the relative thinness of the skin can lead to any cherries not making it out of the orchard.
To protect this investment, orchards employ several different precautions to keep them safe. A combination of netting, percussion explosives, and falconers to allow cherries to properly mature.
All this is reason enough to celebrate and if you’re still in the mood for cherries National Rainier Cherry Day is July 11 so get ready to party. In the meantime, get some fruit delivered to your office! Click here to have schedule a free trial with us today!