Montmorency is the most popular tart cherry grown in North America. Tart cherries like Montmorency have been extensively studied for many positive health benefits, and there is an enormous market around them. Perhaps the most common use is for pies, but they're also juiced, and featured in a range of savoury culinary uses. Montmorency cherries are tart (and delicious) when eaten out of hand, and have red skin and clear flesh. They ripen late July. Pollination: Self-fertile. Unlike some other sour cherries, Montmorency is able to cross-pollinate sweet cherry varieties as well as sour cherries. Parentage: Discovered as a seedling near Montmorency, France, in the 1600s. Rootstock: Mazzard. Full-size, most popular cherry rootstock for centuries. Relatively tolerant of wet and heavy soils compared to other cherry rootstocks. References: Recommended cherry cultivars from OMAFRA. Washington State University: Pollination - Sweet Cherry. Genome of tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) ‘Montmorency’ identifies three distinct ancestral Prunus genomes. Image 1: Leif Kurth.
