Rainier cherries are the most expensive cherries in the world. They are grown along the West Coast of North America, mostly in Washington state, where they are known as “snowballs.”

The cherries themselves are small and round, with a red skin and white flesh. They were first discovered in 1886 by a farmer named Albert W. Rainier in Wenatchee, Washington. He crossed two wild cherry varieties — the Van cherry and the Bing cherry — to create what we now know as the Rainier cherry.

Rainier cherries have a short growing season and are susceptible to mold during storage, which makes them more difficult to grow than other varieties of cherries. As a result, they’re hard to come by outside of their natural habitat. Plus, there’s only one variety of Rainier cherry: ‘Royal Ann’.

So why are they so expensive? It all comes down to supply and demand. Since there’s only one variety available and it takes several years for these trees to produce fruit, there aren’t many of them being produced at any given time. This means when they do reach maturity — usually around six years old — every fruit on that tree has been picked off before it can be sold or eaten by someone else!

Last modified: November 27, 2022