Merchant

Between Burlat and Prim 3.1, someone needs to hold the fort.

That is where Merchant comes in.

This English variety was introduced to Norway in the early 1980s and has found itself a very useful position among our early sweet cherries. Merchant is highly productive, much of the crop ripens at roughly the same time, and the trees produce beautiful medium-sized cherries with remarkably good flavour for such an early variety.

And then there is the eternal debate:

Is Merchant actually a firm-fleshed sweet cherry or isn't it?

Several decades later, that question still doesn't seem to have a definitive answer. When we harvest Merchant, the fruit feels reassuringly firm and can certainly pass for a proper firm-fleshed cherry. But after a few days of storage and transport, it can soften more quickly than the genuinely firm varieties.

So perhaps it is firm when it leaves the tree – and changes its mind somewhere along the journey?

For us, with the opportunity to sell it fresh, the debate matters rather less. Straight from the tree, Merchant is an excellent cherry, and it is a firm customer favourite when it appears early in the season.

Another advantage is that much of the crop ripens within a relatively short period. That means fewer picking rounds than with varieties where the fruit insists on ripening a little here and a little there over several weeks.

Merchant may never have achieved quite the legendary status of some of the heavyweight varieties that arrive later in summer.

But at exactly the point where it sits in our calendar, it has a very important job:

Burlat has finished. Prim 3.1 is on its way.

Merchant holds the fort.

- Beautiful, medium-sized cherries with excellent flavour
- Fills the gap between our very earliest varieties
- Good and reliable yields every year
- Much of the crop ripens together – relatively few picking rounds needed
- English variety, introduced to Norway in the early 1980s
- Requires a compatible pollinator
- Still undecided whether it is soft-fleshed or a true firm-fleshed cherry – the debate continues