Sour Michigan "Balaton" Cherries

Unlike sweet cherries, fresh Balaton cherries are hand-harvested without the stem. When the fruit is ripe, it naturally separates from the stem and the fruit is “protected” from outside air via a natural seal. Thus, flavorful, fully ripened Balaton cherries are naturally stemless! This 3 lb. box contains Sour Michigan “Balaton” Cherries, whose robust, sweet-tart flavor and intense red color make it the best tart cherry for pies, pastries, jams, jellies, or sauces. Balatons are larger, plumper, and significantly more flavorful than other red tart cherries.

Michigan’s unique climate and growing conditions produce the most delicious cherries in the world, and the Wunsch Family Farms in Traverse City, Michigan, has six generations of experience cultivating sweet Ulster and sour Balaton Michigan cherries. The farm, on Northern Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula, is run by brother and sister Isaiah and Adele Wunsch, in the “cherry capital of the world.” Unique growing conditions from northern Lake Michigan provide cool air currents, a microclimate with cool springs, dry summers and long, warm falls to produce tree-ripened cherries, which get packed just hours after being picked, so they’re perfectly ripe, firm, dark, and flavorful.