Hood River Cherry Co. thriving with tree-ripened cherries

Hood River Cherry Co. was founded by orchardists Kathryn Klein and Brad Fowler in 1993. By the late 90s, going into the early 2000s, the first fruit started to ramp up, and the family-run operation has been thriving ever since.

“All of our cherries are out of the Hood River Valley, tucked in here by Mt. Hood, off the Columbia River, and we’re a high-elevation and a late-season cherry,” said Jared Gidley, CEO of the Hood River, OR-based company.

Over the three decades, the company has expanded a little here and there, upgrading its packing capabilities and adding to its acreage. Today, it has between 300-350 acres for cherries.

“Doing what we do, which is tree-ripened fruit, industry standard is 17 Brix, and ours is 21 or 22 before we even think about picking, so there’s a lot more sugar,” Gidley said. “We’re kind of limited in just how perfect everything has to be to pick it so ripe, but that’s our vision and our passion.”

The location is a big part of Hood River Cherry Co.’s success in the eyes of the family.

“The summer is our growing season, and it will get nice and warm during the day but it’s a little cooler — probably five to 10 degrees cooler than they are if you go a little bit east,” Gidley said. “It’s so much cooler in the evenings because we are tucked up against Mt. Hood. Oftentimes, we get into the 40s at night, which is really good for sugar development and keeping cherries firm.”

He also credits the glacial water coming off of Mt. Hood with adding to the ideal growing conditions.

“That’s just one of the things you need to have right to do what we do,” Gidley said. “Our passion and attention to detail is also critical. With conventional cherries, you’re picking them when they’re pretty red and have less sugar, so they have a better shelf life, which makes them a lot more forgiving. For us, we wait for the last second and get it all picked and maintain our cold chain really quickly. None of that would be possible without ultra-attention to detail at the highest level.”

For the 2024 crop, Hood River Cherry Co. is feeling good about what it expects, which is good news considering the challenges of the 2023 season with the overlap with California. The company feels lucky because things could have started off bad for this year as well.

“There was a really detrimental cold event that came through back in January, but that was mostly up in northern Washington, and it took a big bite out of the late cherry deal,” Gidley said, “but because of where we are, we had more moderate temps. It got cold, but we are very happy with how things handled the cold. At this point, we have gotten through bloom and the trees look healthy. It’s not a bumper crop, but it’s definitely a nice crop of cherries on the way and we are excited about our crop.”