Bing cherries continue to be the preferred fresh market cherry. Developed in 1960 in the town of Prosser, the corporate headquarters of Chukar Cherry Company. The Rainier cherry is golden, large, and honey-sweet. Cultivated from wild bush cherries and commonly called sour pie or tart cherries, references to Montmorency cherries can be found in Monastic writings as early as the 17th century. Red, tart cherries are a fragile skin filled with a sour jelly.
Tart cherries are machine picked and immediately immersed in freezing-cold water to firm the jell.
This enables the delicate fruit to withstand transport. Because of their fragility, fresh tart cherries are used primarily in processed products such as fruit fillings and yogurt, and as a dried fruit ingredient in cereal. Washington State is the Number One producer of sweet cherries in the world, followed by Oregon, Utah, California, and Montana. World-wide, the Okanogan area of Canada, Chile, Germany, and now China cultivate cherries. Dried cherries are high in fiber, vitamin C, potassium and minerals.