Question: Where Can I Find U-Pick Cherries in Door County (Wisconsin)?

Answer: Lately I have found that several people found my site when searching for places to pick cherries in Door County, Wisconsin. This happened despite the fact that I do not have that information. However I decided that if people wanted to know I would do some research. The u-pick cherry season is coming to a close in Wisconsin, so you better make your ways to these farms quickly if you want to pick some antioxidant rich treats.

U-Pick Cherry Farms in Door County, Wisconsin

1. Hyline Orchards in Fish Creek was offering u-pick sweet or tart cherries as of July 9th. Call them at 1-888-433-2087 to see if they are still picking. Click here for their website.

2. Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery which is also in Fish Creek, has pick your own tart cherries. They are having a cherry festival on July 24th. They expect they will be all out of cherries by the 25th, so don’t hesitate to make your way there. Click here for their website.

3. Wood Orchard in Eagle Harbor, doesn’t offer u-pick cherries as far as I know, but they do sell already picked ones. Call them at 866-763-2334 to see if they still have some available. Click here for their website.

Question: What is the Difference Between Rainier & Queen Anne Cherries?

Answer: Here are pictures of these two types of cherries.

Queen Anne Cherries

Rainer Cherries

From looking at the pictures, it’s difficult to tell the cherries apart. They also taste pretty much the same, although the queen anne cherries I purchased this year were more tart than the rainier, but they were each grown in completely different states. A lot of stores will use the names interchangeability. They are two different types of cherry trees that happen to produce a similar result. So what is the difference? Not much.

For more about rainier cherries, click here.
For more about queen anne cherries, click here.

We have reached the end of the u-pick cherry season in Michigan this year. There wasn’t much u-picking going on in my area of the state (Washtenaw County) this year, due to a freeze in last April/early May. I did hear about u-pick going on in the western side of the state, so it seems their crop was better. As of now I do not know any farms still offering u-pick cherries this year. If you are lucky you might be able to find some cherries still at your local farmer’s market, otherwise it’s settling for out of state cherries at the supermarket.

If you are interested in other u-pick opportunities, click here to see everything u-pick related on the site.

One of the great treats of the early summer are fresh cherries. One of the best varieties is the Michigan Black Cherry. These cherries are black in color without any red hint. If you find a cherry in a store that looks black but has some red tint to it, then you don’t have a Michigan black cherry. These cherries are sweet. As far as I am concerned they are the best cherries for out of hand eating. Now when you do eat them out of hand you better have a napkin or even a bib nearby, as these things are juicy. My fingernails turn dark purple from just eating the cherries, so imagine the number these things could do on your white t-shirt.

So where do you find these cherries? Well your not likely to find them in the supermarket, I never saw them. I got mine from Kapnick Orchards at the Saline Farmer’s Market. Your local farmer’s market is your best choice to pick up these sweet treasures. If you live outside of Michigan, well then good luck to you. There is a reason they are called Michigan black cherries and I don’t think Michigan exports any (but I may be wrong). Sour pie cherries are the pre-dominant type of cherry grown in the state. So if you can find some black ones, grab them up as soon as you can, you will be happy you did.

The U-pick cherry season is starting to wind down. Here are some updates from the farms I mentioned in previous weeks.

1. Fruit Acres Farm Market (Coloma, MI) may still have sour cherries for picking (the sweet are all gone, but they still have some already picked). Call ahead to confirm they had some to pick. Their number is (269) 468-5076

2. Both Erwin Orchards in South Lyon and Corey Lake Orchards in Three Rivers are no longer have any u-pick cherries left.

3. Wasem’s Fruit Farm in Milan, MI may still have already picked sour cherries for purchase on Friday, June 9th. Call them to confirm. Their number is 734-482-2342

4. Kapnick Orchards are selling cherries at their farm site (no u-pick this season) and at the farmer’s markets in Ann Arbor and Saline.

It wasn’t a good year for u-pick cherries so if you haven’t had a chance to pick yet, you may be out of luck. But still try your local farmer’s market to still have a chance to enjoy farm fresh cherries.

Click here for the most recent update. Last week, I talked about the condition of the cherry crop and status of u-pick farms in Michigan. Today I have some additional news to report. Wasem’s Fruit Farm in Milan will NOT be offering u-pick cherries this season. Their crop was too small. But you can still buy already picked cherries from them. Visit their website for more information.

Here are some additional updates from around southern Michigan:

1. Erwin Orchards is having u-pick sweet cherries, starting to today. Their supply is limited. They are located in South Lyon on Silver Lake Road. Click here to visit their website.

2. Corey Lake Orchards have plenty of sour cherries left for picking as well as a few sweet cherries. They are located in Three Rivers on Corey Lake Road. Click here to visit their website.

3. As far as I know Fruit Acres Farm in Coloma, MI is still offering u-pick cherries. You can call them at (269) 468-5076 for an update.

If you know of any other places in Michigan offering u-pick cherries currently, feel free to leave a comment. I am mainly focusing on the southern part of the state since that is where I live.

The Rainier cherry is a sweet, light-colored (some call them golden) cherry that is white on the inside. They are considered a “premium” cherry so you will find them to be more expensive at your local supermarket (I got some on sale at Meijer in Michigan for $3 a pound). They are a great cherry for eating out of hand and can also be used in cooking. These cherries were first culivated at Washington State University in 1952. They are still grown there as well as in California. The California crops ripens first sometime in May, and the Washington crops ripens sometime in July. The bag I bought was from California. Rainiers are so well liked they got their own day – July 11th is National Rainer Cherry Day.

Last week, I was shopping at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market, and one of the vendors there was selling Queen Anne cherries. What are Queen Anne cherries? They are a sweet, light colored cherry, who also go by the name of Royal Ann(e). They are cherries that you can eat out of hand or cook with. You can find these cherries in both Michigan and Oregon. They are very similar in appearance and taste to Rainer cherries. In fact, it’s very hard to tell them apart, so much so that groceries have been known to label the lighter colored cherries based on the name that is more well known in their region.

You may recognize that Queen Anne name from the Christmas season. Although cherry season is far away from the Christmas season, Queen Anne cordial cherries are a popular item found for sale around that time. Queen Anne cherries are also popular in the making of maraschino cherries.

If you can’t find fresh queen anne cherries you might be able to find the canned version. Oregon Fruit Products makes them using the royal anne name. Check your local supermarket or you can purchase them from Amazon.

Click here for the most recent update. I have been looking into doing some cherry picking this season. Unfortunately the news I have gotten from local farms has not been good. I checked with Kapnick Orchards in Britton, MI and they said they will not be doing U-Pick cherries this season. I also heard from Wasem’s Fruit Farm in Milan, MI and there is some doubt they will be having u-pick cherries this year. They said their crop is small this year, but they will make a final decision in a week (on June 28). The weather this spring was not too kind to a lot of Michigan fruit crops. We had a warm start to the spring, which causes the plants to begin flowering early. But then at the end of April and start of May we had some freezes that did damage to the cherry blossoms. So it may be difficult if you want to pick your own cherries this year in southeast Michigan. However, you can still pick up farm fresh cherries. I got some from both the Ann Arbor and Saline farmer’s market last week.

On the southwest side of Michigan, there are u-pick cherries available at Fruit Acres Farms in Coloma, MI. They have both sweet (started on June 19) & sour varieties available (starting June 26) for u-pick. You can call them for updates at (269) 468-5076. You can also visit their website for more information.

Sprecher knows how to draw people to their products with their colorful bottles featuring colorful characters. Their Ravin’ Red Cranberry-Cherry flavor has a red bird carrying some cranberries and cherries in it’s claws on the bottle. This is the first time I have encountered a soda pop that is suppose to be cranberry-cherry flavor, so I was wanting to try it. But I did not want to fork out the money to buy a 4-pack, just in case I didn’t like it. So I waited until I could buy a single bottle and I found one at Ski’s Meat Market in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Besides giving you a great visual, Sprecher knows how to put words on the bottle to get your mouth watering. This bottle says this around the neck: “We have searched Wisconsin far and wide for the finest all-natural ingredients brewed them in our gas-fired kettle and bottled this gourmet soda just for you! Pure cherry juice is skillfully combined with cranberry juice concentrate and blended with honey and ginseng for a high-energy soft drink that is the perfect balance of sweet and tart”. The ingredient list even tells you the location in which the cherries came from – Door County Wisconsin.

I have never had a drink taste like this. It reminded me of eating cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving Day. The cherry flavor was there too, but I think it took a back seat to the cranberry. I am not the biggest fan of cranberries, but I know if you are cranberry aficionado then you will love this drink.

Where to Buy
Ski’s Meat Market (Stevens Point, WI)
Produce Station (Ann Arbor, MI)
Wilson’s Cheese Shoppe (Pinconning, MI)
Hiller’s (Ann Arbor/Detroit area)