Market Watch: How to buy the best cherries

Growing cherries is always a roll of the dice for farmers, because if rain falls when the fruits are ripe on the tree, a large portion of them can split and be ruined. You'd think that by late May the main danger would have passed, but J.P. Barbagelata, who is hoping to bring Bings to the Santa Monica market next Wednesday, had the agonizing experience of driving off last Tuesday just as the rain was starting to fall on his farm in Linden, near Stockton. As he drove he heard that a quarter-inch had fallen, and that more was expected.

By David Karp, Special to the Los Angeles Times

May 28, 2010