I bought a pound of cherries at Kroger last night. Is there a way to predict which of the cherries will be sourer and which will be sweeter?

I believe that sweetness is a function of ripeness, which you can roughly ascertain from the fruit’s shade of red.

Are they dark red almost black? The darker ones should be sweeter, but if they are mushy then I don’t want it. Have to be firm and dark. Some cherries are “sour cherries” so check what you bought.

I like them plain, but they are also great with vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips. No sauce needed.

I agree, the darker the sweeter.

I’ve been going nuts on them lately – and they’re huge! Bigger than cherry tomatoes!

My favorite fruit. And the best ones (my opinion) are the sweet ones.

The smaller and/or riper will be sweeter than the larger and less ripe. There is a certain amount of sucrose in each piece of fruit, therefore, the large pieces will be less sweet.

@smudges Was it a cherry plum?

As already mentioned. If its just a shiny red apple color then its not ripe enough. It should be the color of a dark red wine or burgandy.

@JLeslie No, I just checked and they’re from Washington, from the Ranier Fruit Co. But they’re not the yellowish ones, definitely the dark red ones.

@SnipSnip There is a certain amount of sucrose in each piece of fruit, therefore, the large pieces will be less sweet.

That’s not true, and makes no sense anyway. ”The sucrose content in fruit depends on the type of fruit, not the size of the piece. Some fruits have higher sucrose levels than others, regardless of how large or small they are.”

Yes! Near Infra red, NIR, reflectance spectroscopy can be used to predict the firmness and sugar content of sweet cherries.
Here is the research paper on it. I have equipment that covers the 780 to 1100 nm range and light sources in 780 and 920 nm.
The world is a strange place when observed in different wavelengths. You can learn a lot!
Predicting Firmness and Sugar Content of Sweet Cherries

I think there are yellow and bright red cherries that are ripe at that color, but I’ve never tried them.

Sadly, @luckyGuy, I don’t have a spectrometer nearby.

Color. The darker, redder, the riper, sweeter.

If you’re talking about “black cherries,” yes the darker ones are sweet and the redder ones are bitter. Both extremely enjoyable. These are the ones with the big pit right?

Those. You can actually see the marbling of both, in many. It tells you how unique it tastes. No two are exactly the same…

#blackcherriesmatter/bestfruit?.gov/http15476g%*7s|{4.com

I bought a dozen-ish cherries last night because of this Q, and they were delicious.

This Q and @JLeslie inspired me to do the experiment for myself. I’ll get some later and try it.
Other than my taste buds, I don’t have equipment on hand to do the sugar content testing objectively so my readings will have to be subjective.
But I do have a NIR 780 nm vision system – doesn’t everyone?

@smudges It is true. You made my argument. ” ”The sucrose content in fruit depends on the type of fruit, not the size of the piece. ” When I say “each piece of fruit” that means each strawberry or each cherry. Of course apples and blackberries do not have the same amount of sugar per piece. But each like piece of fruit does.

^^ Again… “The sucrose content in fruit depends on the type of fruit, not the size of the piece.”

Bing cherries are very deep, dark red when ripe. The Royal Anns are yellow to pink. We’ve had both kinds growing in our yard. Both are delicious. I always liked the Bing better, though, because the sweetness was so rich and mellow, with just a wee tang. We once harvested 40 lb of Bings off the tree in a single day and made ourselves sick (it was worth it).

As they grew taller, most of the fruit was out of our reach, and the birds pecked at everything. Eventually two of them fell down: just fell on their sides one day like a pair of dominoes, probably after massive California droughts.

There’s one cherry tree left now, and we basically get nothing from it because the birds and squirrels take the cherries before they’re fully ripe.

My husband won’t try fresh cherries. I know he would like them. He likes the real fruit cherry popsicles, I can’t remember the brand name. Two years ago I cut cherries in half one by one, tasting one half and only keeping the other half of the perfectly ripe sweet firm cherries. I set aside the bowl for him. He would not try them! He can be impossible.

@JLeslie, as my mother used to say cheerily (about delicacies I resolutely declined as a result of some arbitrary prejudice or other): “All the more for me!”

I did mumble that under my breath. I never try to make him try something that I think is a 50/50. I only push the food that I am 90% sure he will like it, and he does like 90% of it. I don’t know why he wouldn’t trust me on the cherries. Maybe because he didn’t like the clementines. He is difficult when it comes to fruit.

I performed the test on 10 cherries right out of the refrigerator.
Cherries were: Dark Sweet Cherries by Blue Eyed Fox, PLU4045
Distributed by Grand View Fruit LLC., River Valley, WA 98930

Visually there was no discernible difference. (One was maybe a little lighter.)
Viewed at 780 nm with Outdoor lighting – no discernible difference.
Viewed at 780 nm in total darkness illuminated with only a NIR 5W source – no discernible difference.

Taste test: All were delicious, juicy, and sweet. No discernible difference.

Comment: This test neither proves nor disproves the NIR/Sugar content linkage. Rather, it is a testament to the consistency of the cherries themselves and the quality control of the supplier.
Further testing is needed using known limit cherries and/or more objective equipment and methods, i.e., spectrophotometer, gas chromatography.

@smudges That is correct. Your statement refers to fruit generally rather than considering one fruit, such as a cherry. If you buy a bag of cherries each cherry has the same amount of sugar. Yes. HOWEVER, the larger they are the less sweet they will taste. That is because the sugar gets diluted with growth. The smaller ones will be the sweetest tasting due to less water content. I cannot make this any plainer.

If you buy a bag of cherries and strawberries mixed, the smallest cherries in that bag will be the sweetest cherries. The smallest strawberries in that bag will be the sweetest strawberries.

^^ I cannot make this any plainer.

I’m saying you’re wrong. The smaller pieces of any given fruit are not always sweeter.

Case in point: I’ve had grapes that were very small and tart. On the same stem are large grapes that are sweet. So, not the smaller the sweeter. Perhaps it depends on the fruit, in which case a blanket statement cannot be made.

I also doubt that each piece of a kind of fruit is destined to have the exact same amount of sucrose in it, regardless of size, but I couldn’t find anything in my searches that says yea or nay to that. What makes sense to me is that larger pieces will have more sucrose than smaller ones.