N 8 : Cherry Fruits

I think not many people have seen and eaten cherry fruits in our country, because they are not grown and produced here. They are imported, but only in small quantities.

While we were in Melbourne last December we visited a cherry farm. It was cherry fruit picking season and the farms have a way to have the fruits picked without labour costs and at the same time earn some money from the farms.

The method is to let people enter the farm for $6 each. They were given a basket each to put the cherries they picked to eat and take home. While in the farm they can eat as much as they like, but as for the fruits they are taking home they have to weigh them when they come out and pay $10 for each kilo.

The farm we went is planted on a hillside and the scenery is very pretty on all sides. We learn that cherry trees like to be planted on hillsides like the tea trees in our country.

The cherry trees which their fruits can be eaten are of the family as our cherry trees of Taunggyi. I can say that because the leaves are similar to our wild cherry trees. But they are treated with modern horticulture techniques that the fruit grow bigger and can be eaten. They don’t let the trees grow too big. So they pruned them regularly. I also saw that there are many species from the names they have labelled for each tree.

The fruits are about the size of the peaches we have here. Each tree bears many fruits. The red cherry fruits are a pretty sight, but they are not sweet because they are not ripe yet. The ripe ones are darker, and if they are not picked at the right time they break and thus gone to waste.

I wish some entrepreneurs bring some plants from abroad and plant them in our country so that the people of Myanmar can enjoy them. I think they will grow well in our Shan States.