{"id":20630,"date":"2024-06-21T13:45:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T13:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=20630"},"modified":"2024-06-21T13:45:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T13:45:35","slug":"george-washingtons-cherries-live-on-past-virginias-modern-cherry-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/06\/21\/george-washingtons-cherries-live-on-past-virginias-modern-cherry-season\/","title":{"rendered":"George Washington\u2019s cherries live on past Virginia\u2019s modern cherry season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Virginia cherry season may soon be over but personal George Washington&#8217;s cherries live on at his Mount Vernon residence two centuries after the first American president&#8217;s death. An archaeological revelation on June 18 showed well-preserved bunches, baffling plant specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Archaeologists who have been working on Mount Vernon\u2019s cellar since 2023 found\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/18\/us\/george-washington-mount-vernon-cherries.html\"><u>35 intact glass bottles<\/u><\/a>, two with fresh cherries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though initially hesitant since Mount Vernon\u2019s ancient glass utensils usually emerge in fragments, the archaeologists had to finally acknowledge the find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the $40 million restoration dig, the researchers found 29 bottles with fresh-scented cherries, gooseberries or redcurrants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fresh aroma prompted the team to keep the fruits in refrigeration for future lab tests without test-tasting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/117-foods-that-start-with-c\/\"><u>red cherries&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>still ooze \u201can aroma&#8230;is astonishing,\u201d remarked Dr. Jason Burroughs, head of the archaeological team at Mt. Vernon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that this preservation indicates that the bottles were made by hand and their material probably came from Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first discovery of a bottle with fruits occurred in fall 2023 while the rest after March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dating-george-washington-s-cherries\"><strong>Dating George Washington\u2019s Cherries<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also curiosity that these cherries could indicate slavery as Mount Vernon housed<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kwit.org\/2024-06-20\/centuries-old-cherries-were-found-at-george-washingtons-home-what-can-they-tell-us\"><u>\u00a0over 500 slaves<\/u><\/a>\u00a0between 1750 and 1770.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The handmade bottles also point to underground storage pit cellars that expansion work on Mount Vernon eventually hid.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This probably explains why these 18<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0century cherries still look and smell fresh in the 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0century.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-putting-the-virginia-cherry-season-in-the-picture\"><strong>Putting the Virginia Cherry Season in the Picture<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the home state of George Washington, Virginia, is past its March-to-April peak cherry harvest but some areas still remain unharvested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the late-maturing cherry areas are in the Blacksburg vicinity. According to Virginia State University,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pubs.ext.vt.edu\/content\/dam\/pubs_ext_vt_edu\/422\/422-018\/SPES-258.pdf\"><u>June 20 and 25, and July 1 and 5<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;mark the harvest dates for remaining sweet varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The remaining tart cherries, in their part, will be ready by June 20 and 25 as well as July 1 and &nbsp;5.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Virginians could therefore still enjoy current prices at $5.66 and $5.24 per pound for fresh and canned packages respectively.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, as Virginia makes headlines with George Washington\u2019s cherries, the U.S\u2019 harvest is at its peak. &nbsp;The Northwest states expect&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/06\/10\/the-pacific-northwest-cherry-harvest-to-deliver-over-18-million-boxes\/\"><u>17 to 18 million<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;20-ib boxes of sweet cherries in the 2024 season. And as the statistics below reveal, Virginia lags behind in national cherry production vis-\u00e1-vis the Pacific northwest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-virginia-and-u-s-cherry-statistics\"><strong>Virginia and U.S. Cherry Statistics<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cherry production in Virginia and eastern United States is small because most cherries go into fruit processing. The Northwest, on the other hand, commands almost all production of cherries, which reached&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/worldpopulationreview.com\/state-rankings\/cherry-production-by-state\"><u>371,000 tonnes<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;in 2023. To this volume, Washington contributed 240,000 tonnes, California followed with 80,000 tonnes and Oregon closed the top 3 with 51,000 tonnes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Does Virginia produce tart cherries<\/strong>?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Virginia contributed some of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/194673\/us-leading-states-for-tart-cherry-production\/\"><u>24.4 million pounds<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of tart cherries from &#8220;other states&#8221; outside the top 3 in 2023. \u00a02023\u2019s top tart-producing states were Michigan with 130.6 million pounds, Utah with 32.5 million pounds and Wisconsin (9.7 million pounds).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the most popular cherry varieties in Virginia<\/strong>?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Virginia and eastern states like New York grow both sweet and tart cherries. The most common commercial sweet cherries are yellow-fleshed Rainier alongside red-fleshed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nyshs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Fresh-Market-Sweet-Cherry-Varieties-for-Eastern-North-America.pdf\"><u>Cavalier, Sam, Sweetheart and Hudson<\/u><\/a>. Popular tart cherries include&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pubs.ext.vt.edu\/content\/dam\/pubs_ext_vt_edu\/422\/422-018\/SPES-258.pdf\"><u>Montmorency<\/u><\/a>, Northstar, Meteor, Kristin and Lapins, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Virginia cherry season may soon be over but personal George Washington&#8217;s cherries live on at his Mount Vernon residence two centuries after the first American president&#8217;s death. An archaeological revelation on June 18 showed well-preserved bunches, baffling plant specialists. Archaeologists who have been working on Mount Vernon\u2019s cellar since 2023 found\u00a035 intact glass bottles,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>George Washington\u2019s cherries live on past Virginia\u2019s modern cherry season - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/06\/21\/george-washingtons-cherries-live-on-past-virginias-modern-cherry-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"George Washington\u2019s cherries live on past Virginia\u2019s modern cherry season - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Virginia cherry season may soon be over but personal George Washington&#8217;s cherries live on at his Mount Vernon residence two centuries after the first American president&#8217;s death. 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