Techlovan

If we are judging on flavour alone, Techlovan belongs in the top three. No discussion.

In fact, it might deserve the number one spot.

A basket of perfectly ripe Techlovan is quite simply a feast to eat your way through. Allow the cherries to remain on the tree until they become properly dark, and they develop a deep, intense and magnificent sweet cherry flavour that makes it extremely difficult to point to anything better.

We are still talking purely about flavour, though.

Because once we judge the complete cherry, the competition becomes brutal. The fruit is huge, beautiful to look at, and the trees produce good crops year after year. But Techlovan perhaps lacks that final, extraordinary crunch you get when biting into a perfect Tamara.

And maybe that is the only reason Techlovan has to settle for a place somewhere in the top three rather than taking the crown outright.

Maybe.

Being the judge becomes rather difficult when the contestants taste this good.

Techlovan was developed in the Czech Republic and is a cross between 2xVan and Kordia. With two varieties like those in its family tree, expectations were probably high from the beginning – but the result still deserves to be called a small masterpiece.

It is also one of the first true flavour heavyweights to arrive during our sweet cherry season. When Techlovan begins turning dark and perfectly ripe on the trees, we have reached the part of summer where cherry flavour really starts hitting the very top level.

What a cherry.

- One of the first true flavour heavyweights of our sweet cherry season
- Among our top three for flavour – perhaps number one when perfectly ripe
- Large and exceptionally attractive fruit
- Good and reliable yields
- Czech-bred cross between Van and Kordia
- Requires a compatible pollinator
- Not quite as exceptionally crisp as some of the firmest varieties
- A small masterpiece of a sweet cherry