Brooks is an early season cherry with large, dark red fruit. It has a sweet, rich flavour and the flesh is firm and crisp with luscious shades of red and pink. The sweetness is well balanced for such as early season variety and it is highly regarded for its fruit quality.
Brooks has a unique trait in that the stone is nearly free from the flesh.
This is a relatively new, patented variety that has become popular, not only for its quality, but for its low chilling requirement of 400 hours. This is most important because it allows the variety to be grown in warmer areas such as southern California, and as such, matures a month earlier than popular varieties such as Bing, with which it is similar in quality and flavour.
Origin: The Brooks cherry is a hybrid of Burlat and Rainier and was developed at the University of California-Davis. It was released to the public in 1987.
Grown in: California, Washington
Harvest & Availability: Available from California in late April to mid May; available from Washington in early June.
May: from California
References:
Reference paper:
Consumer acceptance of ‘Brooks’ and ‘Bing’ cherries is mainly
dependent on fruit SSC and visual skin color
Carlos H. Crisosto *, Gayle M. Crisosto, Paul Metheney
Websites:
www.willisorchards.com
www.chowhound.chow.com
www.specialityproduce.com
www.cherryamerica.com
www.calendarlive.com
