From people “cherry-picking” information to make a better argument, to parents giving their child a “second bite of the cherry,” this vibrant fruit is deeply rooted not only in modern verbiage but also in American culture and history. While bananas and apples may dominate as household staples in America, you’d be hard-pressed to find a household that doesn’t have something cherry-flavored or cherry-inspired. So why is this particular fruit so deeply woven into language, food, and art? To attempt to answer that, we must journey back to its origins, its integration into various cultures, and its evolving role over time.
The birthplace of both primary species of cherries that exist in the market today, the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) and sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), is believed to be in the fertile lands of Asia Minor, an area that largely corresponds to present-day Turkey. Over the course of millennia, these cherries spread far from their native land and into Europe, carried by humans, animals, and birds. In 300 BCE, the Greek writer Theophrastus, a close colleague of Aristotle and widely regarded as the Father of Botany, made the first recorded mention of cherries. In his History of Plants, he noted that cherries had been cultivated in Greece for centuries, underscoring their long-standing significance.
While the Greeks were enjoying plentiful cherry harvests, the Roman Empire was expanding. Around 74 BCE, Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus led five legions into war against Mithradates, ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia. Within four years, Lucullus had the Pontus king on the run, but by 66 BCE, the Roman Senate recalled him to Rome, accusing him of prolonging the war for personal gain. Although Lucullus was denied the honor of a decisive victory, he didn’t return empty-handed. During his campaigns in the East, he had accrued quite a bit of loot which he brought back to Rome – which included the cherry tree. As noted by Pliny the Elder in Book 15 of his Natural History, “before the victory of Lucius Lucullus in the war against Mithridates, that is down to 74 BC, there were no cherry trees in Italy. Lucullus first imported them from Pontus.”
Once the cherry was in Roman hands, its cultivation spread throughout the vast empire. The fruit became so common that it was included in the rations to Roman soldiers. As these cherry-eating legions marched across Europe, they left cherry seeds in their wake resulting in expansive cherry orchards. Pliny the Elder even remarked that, “In 120 years they [cherries] have crossed the ocean and got as far as Britain.” However, as the Roman Empire declined, so did cherry cultivation in Britain. Despite this, the cherry tree would find its way back to Britain, this time through the influence of a king. More on this later. . .
As Europe entered the Middle Ages, cherries remained relatively commonplace in medieval gardens. Both fresh and dried cherries were accessible to people of all social classes and, like today, red cherries were the preferred variety. Although cherries were enjoyed by many, their “cold and moist” qualities, according to the medical theory of humorism at the time, made them potentially harmful to the stomach. As a result, cherries were often cooked or soaked in wine, leading to their frequent inclusion in puddings, sauces, and pies. It is also during this period that cherries began to take on symbolic meanings tied to religion and sexuality. In the Cherry-Tree Carol, a 15th-century play, Mary and Joseph stop at a cherry orchard. Mary asks Joseph to pick cherries for her since she is pregnant, but Joseph retorts that the child’s father should pick them instead. Joseph must quickly eat his words, however, after infant Jesus, still in the womb, commands the tree to lower a branch down to Mary, which it does.
The cherry’s symbolic role in art and religion flourished during the European Renaissance. As seen in the Cherry-Tree Carol, the fruit represented both purity and sensuality. Cherries were often used as symbols of the Virgin Mary, signifying innocence and paradise. Yet, they also took on a more suggestive tone, as seen in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the line, “my cherry lips have often kissed thy stones” alludes to sensuality.
Alongside its symbolic significance, cherry cultivation flourished in Europe and Asia during and beyond the Renaissance. In 1513, the infamous English king, Henry VIII, encountered the cherry when he captured the city of Tournai in modern-day Belgium. After tasting the fruit, he ordered the cultivation of cherry orchards back in England, marking the return of cherries to Britain. In 16th century India, Mughal emperor Akbar’s royal gardeners worked tirelessly to develop even sweeter varieties of cherries, while also importing sweet cherries from Kabul. Back in France, cherry popularity reached new heights in the 18th century, thanks to King Louis XVI’s encouragement of cultivating and experimenting with new cherry varieties. His wife, Marie Antoinette, was even known to have cherries arranged in her elaborate hairstyles.
The cherry craze seemed unstoppable, spreading across both Europe and America. In the 1600s, along with many other fruit-bearing plants, cherries were brought to North America by the French. In the early years of the United States, cherries became a prominent fruit. Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and passionate gardener, was particularly fond of the fruit. He grew several varieties at his Monticello estate, but none were better than the ‘Carnation’ cherry which he felt was, “so superior to all others that no other deserves the name of cherry.” But Jefferson wasn’t the only notable American connected to cherries—there was also George Washington. One of the most enduring legends about Washington is the tale of the cherry tree, which recounts a six-year-old George accidentally damaging his father’s cherry tree with a hatchet. When his father found out, he became angry, but young George bravely confessed, and his father, impressed by his honesty, declared that the truth was worth more than a thousand trees. However, George seemed to have made peace with the cherry tree, as in June 2024, archeologists uncovered more than two dozen bottles of cherries at Washington’s Mount Vernon, dating back around the American Revolution.
As it turns out, this was just the beginning of America’s obsession with cherries. During the 19th century, as American expansionism took hold, pioneers and fur traders from the eastern United States brought cherry trees with them as they moved westward. However, one man truly went above and beyond in this effort. In 1847, Henderson Luelling, an American horticulturist, set off from Iowa for Oregon, bringing with him 300 cherry tree saplings, along with 400 trees of apples, pears, and peaches, all transported in a seven-wagon caravan on the Oregon Trail. Upon reaching the West Coast, Luelling established a nursery that would later play a significant role in the growth of the sweet cherry industry in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. But the Luelling story didn’t end there. Eventually, Henderson’s brother, Seth, arrived to join the family nursery operation and went on to cultivate a rich, dark black cherry that he named the Black Republican. Seth then crossed this cherry with the Royal Ann to create the now-famous Bing cherry, named after Ah Bing, his Chinese orchard foreman.
Luelling’s nurseries played a pivotal role in supplying cherry trees to aspiring orchardists across the Oregon Territory. By 1900, cherry orchards had proliferated throughout Washington state, with the eastern part of the state earning the nickname “home of the cherry.” The cherry industry became so prominent that Washington’s cherry growers implemented strict protocols to safeguard the product’s quality and reputation. They ensured that only those who adhered to rigorous standards could grow and market Washington cherries. This collective dedication to quality has earned Wenatchee and Yakima the reputation of producing some of the finest sweet cherries in the world for decades.
Washington State has not only built a reputation for producing high-quality cherries but has also gained recognition for developing one of the world’s most popular varieties. In 1972, Dr. Harold Fogle, a professor at Washington State University, crossbred the Bing and Van varieties to create the Rainier cherry. This variety has since become one of the sweetest, most expensive, and most sought-after cherries in the world. It’s not just humans who are drawn to these hybrid cherries; birds have developed a particular fondness for the Rainier as well. In fact, despite various deterrents, growers consistently lose about one-third of the state’s crop to these hungry birds.
While fresh cherries are enjoyed by many people (and birds), cherry-flavored foods and beverages are also widely popular. From cherry cola to cherry-flavored candy, there’s a good reason why cherries are so prominently used in flavoring. When the commercial flavor industry began in the 1800s, it was discovered that cherries contained a significant amount of benzaldehyde, an organic compound which gives them their distinct flavor. This unique characteristic made cherries the preferred choice for flavorists looking to create cherry-flavored profiles, over other fruit-based flavors.
Today, cherries are cultivated across the globe, from Turkey and Chile to Canada and China, and continue to be one of the most widely recognized and beloved fruits and flavors. As with many other iconic global crops, breeding programs worldwide are dedicated to developing new cherry varieties—focused on disease resistance, heat tolerance, and durability against rain-induced cracking. Let’s just hope there’s also a solution in the works to keep the birds at bay, so we can all enjoy the full bounty of a cherry harvest.
- John Paap is the sustainability and brand marketing manager at Jac. Vandenberg, Inc. and co-host of the “History of Fresh Produce” series on The Produce Industry Podcast.
