Trade could put the Belgian cherry in the spotlight a little more

Tholen - The cherry season has just started at Hellingenfort in Borgloon. “We are currently picking the early variety Victoria. A not so dark, but very juicy cherry. This weekend we start carefully with Kordia. Then we only pick the predecessors for our regular customers,” says Karel Vaes. “The season will really start in July. The cherries hanging on the trees are looking good so far. We've had a lot of rain the last few days, which is a blessing for the late varieties. They are so thick and could use some water.” “The Kordia is the most popular cherry among many Belgians and Dutch. It is a beautiful dark and juicy cherry. However, the early varieties that we pick in Belgium are also of very good quality, but here we are so spoiled with dark thick cherries that they don't like the red cherries from their own soil. However, it seems that foreign cherries are allowed to be red and good money is paid for that. We can only market thick and dark cherries. I think the trader could be a ...