Savor Sweet Local Cherries from This Italian-American Family Farm
Pop cherries off the tree with Steve Chinchiolo of Chinchiolo Family Farms, while he walks through all the sweet varieties.
Lapin cherries on the left and Bing cherries on the right, from Chinchiolo Family Farms. | Becky Duffett
When cherries roll into season in Northern California, you better get ’em while they’re juicy. The local window is tantalizingly short and sweet, between May and June. Especially if they’re plucked from the heat of the San Joaquin Valley, before tumbling into the fog in San Francisco, offering a first taste of summer. Popping one in your mouth at the Markets, can you imagine the blossoms and bees, followed by bright red fruit? “They’re very good just eaten off the tree,” says farmer Steve Chinchiolo of Chinchiolo Family Farms, sometimes sold under the brand name of Lucky You Orchards. “I find myself having to limit myself.” He can’t stop snacking on them like candy. “I pop one off, I put it in my mouth, and I’m doing that all day long.”
Cherries are an exceptionally perishable crop, and this season was challenging, for a couple of reasons — the economy and climate change. Across the country, farmers are grappling with inflation, and paying more for fuel and fertilizer. As well as unpredictable weather, like the record-breaking temperatures we saw in March, followed by a surprisingly wet April. Steve Chinchiolo reports that first his trees bloomed unevenly, then his cherries got pummeled by rain and hail. Cherries have porous skins, so rain literally soaks in, and can cause them to plump and crack. They wound up with fewer cherries to sell this year, in slightly smaller sizes than usual. He also expects his season to end a week early, after the first week of June.
Cherries on the trees, ripe for picking in the spring | Chinchiolo Family Farms
The flavor is just as transcendent as always, so it’s worth savoring these little cherries that fought the elements. The season starts with the crowd-favorite variety Coral Champagne, exceptionally sweet and popular in California. Before moving into the old-fashioned Bing, with a classic balance of sugar and acid. A hybrid that caught on in the 80s, Lapins come out later in the season. Nearly all Chinchiolo cherries are dark and sweet, but they do grow a handful of the golden and blushing Rainier. Looking ahead to next year, keep an eye out for the heart-shaped Summit and nearly black Regina — they were victims of the weather this season, but they should have been the grand finale.
Chinchiolo Family Farms is an organic operation with a well seasoned Italian-American history. The family originally immigrated from Sicily, and Chinchiolo’s great grandfather sold fruit from a street cart in Boston, before his grandfather moved to California and started farming in the Escalon area around 1920. For many years, Chinchiolo and his dad, uncle, and cousin grew grapes for winemaking, but they transitioned to apples in the 80s and cherries in the 90s. Today all three of Chinchiolo’s kids have joined in: Alex Chinchiolo works closely with his dad on the farm, and Adam and Andrea Chinchiolo founded Far West Cider Co., pressing heirloom apples into award-winning craft cider. So depending on how you slice it, the Chinchiolos have been in the fruit business for five generations, and farming for four. These days, they have 190 acres, including two of the original properties, in the family for a century.
Cherries hand-picked into baskets. | Chinchiolo Family Farms
Cherry picking has become increasingly popular as a spring pastime in the Bay Area, and while Brentwood gets swarmed as the “U-Pick Capital,” San Joaquin County is the real cherry basket of California. Since the pandemic, the Chinchiolo family opened up a couple orchards to the public, welcoming folks to fill buckets and bags of cherries for snacking, baking, and jamming. Unfortunately with the weather, they also had to cut U-Pick short this year. So if you blinked and missed the chance to take a trip out to the farm, we’re fortunate to be able to savor their cherries for a couple more weeks at the Markets. You might also spot them at several farmers markets in SF, including the Ferry Plaza on Saturdays, and Clement Street and Fort Mason on Sundays. Or if you’re really lucky, on the dessert menu at a few restaurants around town.
Of course, you could keep eating cherries all summer long. Once our short local season is over in Northern California, it runs up into the Pacific Northwest, climbing those cool mountains. But seeking out local and organic cherries is better for the world — “our footprint is softer,” as Steve Chinchiolo says gently, in terms of sustainability. And you can definitely taste the difference between a conventional cherry that’s been sitting on a truck for more than a week, compared to a local and organic cherry that’s been freshly picked, packed, chilled and on shelves at Bi-Rite Markets within a few precious days. “They’re very perishable, so timing from harvest to consumption is critical.”
Alex (top left), Steve (third), Adam (fourth), Andrea (sixth), and the whole Chinchiolo family. | Far West Cider Co
Becky Duffett is a food writer living and eating in San Francisco. Follow her on Instagram at @beckyduffett.
