Summer Fruit

The Traverse City area, adjacent to Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan, has long been known as the world’s premier cherry producing area. Northwest Michigan grows over half of the world’s red tart cherries but sweet cherries are the fruit that most locals and visitors to the area remember for their flavor.

Tart Cherries

Red tart cherries are the most widely planted variety of cherries on the Hoxsie Farm. Tart cherries ripen in mid to late July with virtually all of the fruit harvested mechanically by cherry tree shakers within a 20 day period. They are a highly perishable fruit with a short shelf life. Tart cherries must be processed into a storable form within a few hours of harvest from the tree, making them extremely challenging to sell as a fresh fruit at our market. A large majority of tart cherries are pitted and canned or frozen for later use in the food industry. An increasing amount of tart cherries are being dried and used in place of or in addition to raisins. In recent years, the health benefits of tart cherry juice has spawned a new product, cherry juice concentrate. Juice is extracted from the cherries and the water removed from the juice leaving the syrup like cherry juice concentrate which can later be reconstituted by adding water, other fruit juices or some other liquid depending on the intended use. Several varieties of dried tart cherries and cherry juice concentrate are available at Hoxsie’s Farm Market throughout the season.

Sweet Cherries

There are many different varieties and colors of sweet cherries grown on our farm. Dark red sweet cherries are the most popular fresh fruit cherry that we sell at Hoxsie’s. The season’s first fresh sweet cherries usually ripen during the first week of July and are available until early to mid August. The many different varieties that we grow, all with different maturity dates, help insure that we will have an ample supply for the month of July and part of August. Many of our guests at Hoxsie’s Farm Market have discovered the outstanding taste of “Light” colored or “Queen Ann” sweet cherries. The primary use of “light” sweets is in the production of maraschino cherries, but their crunchy, slightly tart flavor has made them an increasingly more popular fruit at our market. All the cherries that are offered for your fresh fruit eating enjoyment at Hoxsie’s Farm Market are carefully picked by hand on a daily basis. After picking, they are carefully cooled, sorted, in most cases washed, and then packed into boxes for you. Please remember that all cherries have a hard pit inside that is best if NOT swallowed. Ask one of our employees for a cup or a bag for your pits.