International Fruit Genetics LLC (IFG) has announced three new trademark names for its growing Cheery Cherry line. 

The California-based fruit breeding company welcomed Cheery Cupid, patented as IFG Cher-ten, a heart-shaped fruit with a sweet-tart taste that will help usher in the cherry season, with a  unique and robust taste. The company informed that the new variety is performing exceptionally well in all test locations. 

Fruit from commercial orchards will begin to ship in 2023 from Spain and Chile, with cherries from California available in 2024.

“Traditionally, there are many chill requirements to grow a great cherry – but IFG is changing that with our early and ‘low chill’ cherry varieties,” said Antonia Sánchez-Labbé International Technical Manager Cherries/Country Manager Cherries, North America. 

“Until now, most cherry trees have required 800-1,000 chill hours of temperatures below 45° Fahrenheit (7.2° Celsius). IFG has created varieties of cherries that need less than half that much," she said. 

Additionally, there are two other newly trademarked named cherries in the Cheery Cherry line, one is Cheery Nebula. This is a big round cherry with a long green stem and intense taste which comes early in the harvest window with a low chill requirement of <300 chill hours.

Cheery Chap is the other new variety, an early-season cherry with intense color and taste and a chill requirement of <300 chill hours.

IFG’s low-chill cherries are all early harvest, meaning they are the first cherry that consumers will see, taste, and provide the make-or-break experience that will entice the public to return for future purchases. These new cherries are being grown in California, Spain, Chile, Australia, and South Africa.

“IFG is devoted to revolutionizing cherries as we know them – we are changing up the cherry game to Cherry 2.0 in fact,” said Alwyn van Jaarsveld, International Commercial Cherry Manager, IFG. 

“Our committed cherry team works with the latest cutting-edge breeding developments, allowing us to offer an exceptional level of expertise and service to our licensees and ultimately, consumers. Our program develops varieties that are early harvests with low to high chill requirements, allowing our delicious line of cherries to be adaptable to more regions around the world, expanding global cherry production. This allows us to ensure our cherries are crunchy and sweet, with great flavor, year-round.”

“Additionally, IFG selects very specifically for our breeding program – not only do we use modern technologies to ensure that the genetic material used in our breeding program is exactly what we are looking for, but we also grow the trees in a typically harsh environment to weed out the weaker progeny and ensure robust, hardy varieties that are grower-friendly and can withstand the rigor of warm, dry summers while still producing a good crop,” added Sánchez-Labbé.

All IFG varieties are non-GMO and are tested to maintain quality over weeks of storage to ensure the ability to travel well to both domestic and foreign markets and still provide consumers with that special eating experience that they have come to expect from IFG fruit.