Nanking cherry

Prunus tomentosa · Stone fruit

40 pairings

The Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa) is a small tart bush cherry from East Asia, borne in dense clusters on an extremely cold-hardy shrub. Rarely sold in shops, it is a mainstay of prairie and cold-climate gardens, where its brief early-summer flush is picked for jelly, jam, juice, syrup and country wine.

Picking a good onedrag

Still paleFermenting

Full colourEven scarlet and still firm — the jelly and syrup window: acid still keen, and the fruit firm enough to get from bush to pan unbruised.Pick it

ColourEven scarlet right round, skin glossy

ReleaseComes away with a light roll of the thumb

FleshFirm and springy, skin taut over the stone

SmellFaint fresh cherry with the cluster held close

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 3× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90–95%

Cherries want 90–95% RH. In dry fridge air the thin downy skin shrivels and the flesh goes slack within a day — keep them lidded.

Airflow

Still air, lidded

Spread them one layer deep rather than heaped, and don't wash until you cook: water sitting on that fuzzy skin turns to grey mould fast.

It will not ripen once picked

Non-climacteric: it makes almost no ethylene, but it answers to it — apples or bananas alongside cost it quality. Colour and sugar are fixed on the bush, so a pale one stays sour.

Preparing