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All cherries are great – but not all cherries are created equal when it comes to baking.
Here’s a quick run-down on which cherry variety to use in your next recipe.
Bing Cherries
Bing cherries tend to be the most popular. They’re the poster child of sweet cherries and make a delicious snack. If you’re perusing your local grocery store, Bing cherries are likely to be front and center in the produce aisle.
Due to their sweet nature, Bing cherries are ideal for making jam. They’re super easy to reduce down into a syrup, which makes them a fantastic choice for a crepe or pancake topping! They’re also great when muddled and paired with bourbon, simple syrup, and lime juice for those who are looking for a new happy-hour favorite!
Rainier Cherries
These are the yellowish-red cherries. While they make great additions to all sorts of foods and can be great cherries for baking, Rainier cherries work best as a salad topper! They’re candy-sweet with a soft texture, so they’re the perfect complement to leafy greens, nuts, and crumbly cheese.
Morello Cherries
This cherry type is well-loved by everyone, and they tend to be the best cherries for baking when it comes to the creation of cherry pie. They’re sweet with a lovely consistency, though pies made with Morello cherries need a bit of extra sugar and starch to achieve that gooey (but not runny) consistency we all love.
Queen Anne Cherries
Although they look a lot like the Rainier cherry, Queen Anne cherries are a bit darker in color – and quite different in flavor. They can be considered the halfway point on the “cherry sweetness scale,” and they’re probably most famous for their use in creating Maraschino cherries (which require an extensive soak in sugary goodness).
However, their not-too-sweet and not-too-tart flavor makes them great cherries for baking when it comes to pie filling, especially if you want something with a flavor that has a few more layers than something that’s simply super-sweet.
