We have a Montmorency and have just started picking today. If they are not ripe the birds don't eat. The robins are the worst. So, if you don't have many robins, more cherries for you. There are such varying shades of red. The ripe ones are more of a deep (with some burgundy) red and absolutely no yellow. Plus they slip of the seed with a gentle pull. If you have to tug then let them ripen another day.

I saw some bitten cherries a few days ago, but today there are way more bird savaged ones.

What do you do with your harvest of sour cherries? bonnie

Hi Bonnie. Historically, the robins have been the worst here too and haven't seemed to care about the degree of ripeness.

I immediately pit the cherries and then freeze them on a cookie sheet before transferring them to freezer bags. I have made cherry jam, but we don't really care for how much sugar it requires to thicken. More recently, I take them from the freezer, add some sugar and use cornstarch to thicken and make a thin pie filling and use that to top our homemade yogurt.

We've been out of cherries for about a month, so we're glad they're ripening.