A sweet, new cherry that was an accidental discovery, that you need to "accidentally" pick up at the grocery store.
📋 What's New In This Post (7/12/25) - Updated the most recent news about this variety.
Cherries Get Me Through the Summer Heat!
Anyone that knows me, will be able to tell you my dislike for summer heat.
I can deal with the cold in the winter, much better than summer's worst. The Michigan humidity is rough.
During these dog day of summer, I need something to keep my spirits up until cooler weather arrives.
July is the peak of cherry season.
A good bowl of cherries is definitely a pick me up.
In recent years, new special varieties of cherries have hit the market place. Skylar Rae. Orondo Ruby, and now Audra Rose.
Right after 4th of July, I spotted these bright red colored cherries at my local Kroger store. Let me you about them.
Story of this Cherry
Audra Rose was a chance discovery. A woman named Audra Leitz was doing a walk through the family orchard. She came upon a tree with a cherry that was sweeter than the Rainiers, she originally though it was.
The cherry was tested to be sure it was an unique variety and it was!
There are many excellent plant breeders out there that do fantastic work. Yet sometimes the bees just do the work themselves!
How They are Different
What are some of the unique features of the Audra Rose cherry? Let's go through them:
- Audra Rose is a sizeable cherry. I compared them to the popular Bing cherries, and they are quite a bit larger as you can see in the photo below:
- Their color is a bold, solid red color. More of a true red than the dark cherries that dominate the market. They are also a solid red unlike a Rainier cherry.
- They have a sweet flavor like a Rainier, that is more complex. My wife felt they had a cinnamon undertone to their flavor. If you like Rainier cherries, then I recommend Audra Rose to you, it's a good cherry that all cherry fans should try out.
When in Season?
The harvest begins around the 2nd week of June in Washington. The harvest lasts around 10 days. Leitz Farms is the exclusive grower.
You can find them in stores shortly after that through maybe early-mid July.
Where to Buy?
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find much information on where to get these cherries. The only place I have seen them was at Kroger near Ann Arbor, Michigan and that was in 2020. I haven't seen them since. I know since I last saw them they have updated their packaging to showcase the name better as well as gotten their own PLU number so they can sell bags of them in grocery stores.
Have you found Audra Rose cherries? If so, please leave a comment with what store and location you found them in. Thanks!
Matthus Leitz
We were wondering how far they shipped this year. Thanks for writing the article.
Pam Jones
2022 found them in a small Iowa town Tipton at Family Foods the only store in town.
Eric Samuelson
Thanks for sharing that!
Patti
Discovered these in the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal in an Aldis, Went back to get more, but they had vanished!
Eric Samuelson
That's great that ALDI had them. There isn't a huge supply of them, so that might have been it.