Why Are Cherries Always So Expensive?

The skin snaps. The juice runs. Biting into a perfectly ripe cherry is one of summer's greatest pleasures, and a whole bowl is quickly reduced to a pile of pits. They look beautiful and taste incredible in a variety of recipes, from rustic clafoutis baked right in a cast iron pan, to the classic, gooey pie filling that goes great with a "damn fine" cup of coffee. But why are these ruby-red stone fruits so ruinously expensive?

The high cost of cherries is tied to a cascade of agricultural, environmental, and economic factors that make them particularly expensive to grow, harvest, and distribute. Cherries require precise conditions to thrive and intensive, hands-on labor to reach the market in good condition. They're tender, juicy, and sweet, but these appealing traits make them fragile, highly perishable, and therefore costly to get from branch to bite. Add in a fleeting growing season, increasingly erratic climate patterns, and a volatile global political economy, and it's no surprise cherries fetch a premium.

These delicate summer fruits are only in season from late May to August in the U.S., depending on the region. That narrow window creates scarcity, driving prices up as demand stays high. Unlike crops that can be grown year-round in warm climates, or hardier fruits that can sit in cold storage for months and still look pretty good, like apples or potatoes, cherries ripen fast and spoil even faster. If you see cherries in the grocery store during the colder months, they're probably imported from other countries, maybe even other hemispheres, adding even more shipping and storing costs. 

Most sweet cherry tree varieties are self-incompatible, meaning they can't fertilize themselves with their own pollen. This is due to a genetic mechanism called "gametophytic self-incompatibility," which is common in many fruit trees in the Rosaceae family (like apples, pears, and plums). Because they can't self-pollinate, growers must plant compatible varieties side by side and bring in managed bee colonies during bloom to ensure cross-pollination. Without this elaborate, labor-intensive setup, there's no fruit. They also don't grow just anywhere: Cherries need cold winters to trigger dormancy, mild springs to protect blossoms, and dry summers to ripen. That narrow climate window limits large-scale production to temperate regions like the Pacific Northwest, Michigan, and parts of California. But even under ideal conditions, the fruit must be harvested quickly once ripe. Unlike apples or pears, cherries don't continue to ripen after being picked, and waiting too long can mean split skins, rotting, or flavor loss. The rush to pick them at peak ripeness adds pressure and cost to every step of the supply chain.

Increasingly unpredictable environmental conditions mean entire harvests can be compromised. A late frost or early heat wave can wipe out crops, and a single rainstorm near harvest can split the fruit's delicate skin. To avoid losing everything, some orchards go to extreme lengths, including hiring helicopters to hover above the trees and blow-dry them after rain. It's not cheap, but it's worth it if it saves the season. The hand-picked crop also depends on a skilled, seasonal labor force, but persistent shortages of migrant farm workers, shaped in part by shifting immigration policies, have strained harvests. With fewer hands in the orchard, less fruit gets picked, and the cherries that do make it to market come at a higher cost.

Once harvested, cherries have to move fast. They're typically hydro-cooled and packed within hours, then shipped in refrigerated trucks or air-freighted to reach international markets. These logistics are expensive and have only grown more so with rising fuel and shipping costs. All of this means cherries are one of the fruit crops where even small handling mistakes or delays can ruin bushels. For consumers, that translates to a higher price per pound — a kind of built-in luxury tax on the hidden costs of a shifting labor and climate landscape.

Judy Garland popularized the song "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries," singing, "Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious / You work, you save, you worry so / But you can't take your dough when you go." Life is short, so when they're perfectly ripe, maybe go on and buy the cherries anyway.