What is the difference between tart cherries and sweet cherries?
Sweet cherries are grown primarily for fresh eating. The tart cherry, also called “red tart”, “sour cherry”, or Montmorency, is widely used for canning and processing to make jams, preserves, and pies. Tart cherry pie filling is the number one pie filling sold in the U.S. The name “Montmorency” refers to the most widely grown variety of tart cherries. Tart cherries have a distinctive, bright red color. In fact, the same compounds that give tarts their color contain the antioxidant properties that researchers are investigating. While sweet cherries are grown in several parts of the country, tarts are grown primarily in northwestern Michigan. Michigan has 3.8 million tart cherry trees. All of the recent research into the health benefits of cherries is referring to tart cherries.
