Keeping Them Cold

Stemilt cherries come off the tree looking and tasting perfect, but they still have some distance to travel before making it to the store and home.

Unlike many other common fruits, cherries don't contain stored carbohydrates and must be kept cold to maintain firmness, acidity and sugar levels. The following steps make up Stemilt's cold chain process and ensure only the highest quality sweet cherries are delivered to stores:

While working to improve his cherry business in the 1960’s, Tom Mathison realized that the best environment for harvesting cherries was to pick the fruit in the early morning hours when temperatures were cool. Picking cherries under the heat of the day can lead to excessive bruising and cause the fruit to deteriorate quickly. In fact, a study by researchers at UC Davis shows that cherries harvested before 8 AM retain firmness significantly longer than cherries harvested later in the day. That’s why each year during harvest you’ll find Kyle and his crew awake before sunrise ready to pick cherries.

After the cherries are picked from the tree, the fruit is transported to nearby hydrocooling stations. The hydrocooler effectively cools down the cherries by drenching the fruit in chilled water, maintained at a refreshing 32°F. Hydrocooling is a common process used to remove field heat from many fresh fruits and vegetables. Once the cherries move through the hydrocooler, they are covered by protective tarps, also soaked in cold water, and then transported by truck to our nearest packing house.

Upon arrival at the packing house, cherries are hydrocooled a second time to remove any remaining field heat. Next, the fruit moves down the packing line via cold water transport. The water serves as a cushion for the cherries and reduces bruising on these delicate fruits. At the end of the line, cherries are packed into a variety of packages that maintain freshness and ensure the product arrives safely to the store.

Once cherries are packed in boxes and placed on pallets, they are immediately transported to nearby forced air-cooled rooms. Just like the other steps in the cold chain, these rooms are maintained at 32°F to maximize fruit freshness. To rapidly cool each box of fruit, we line several pallets of cherries in a straight row near large fans. Then, a tarp is placed over the top of each pallet, causing the fans to blow cool air through each box of cherries. These cool-down rooms remove any remaining heat from the fruit by uniformly cooling each cherry.

Fresh out of the cold room, cherries are loaded onto refrigerated trucks and sent to retail destinations throughout the world. Because of their perishable nature, cherries move quickly from the farm to the store, typically shipping in 24 to 48 hours. Throughout the transportation and delivery process, the temperature of each truck is constantly recorded and monitored. This is the final step in Stemilt’s important cold chain process, which ensures cherries arrive at the store tasting fresh and delicious.