A Short, Sweet Season Returns: Cherry Time™ Welcomes the Arrival of South Africa’s 2025 Cherry Harvest

The orchards in Ceres are glowing once again, branches heavy, air warm, and the first cherries of the season arriving with the familiar sense of anticipation that comes around only once a year. Cherry Time™, the family-run brand behind South Africa’s favourite summer cherries, is officially opening the 2025 season, inviting the country to slow down, savour the moment, and enjoy the simple pleasure of fruit harvested at its peak.

The Cherry Time™ season is famously short, which is exactly what gives it its charm. Unlike long-stored fruit, these cherries are picked ripe from the tree, hand-sorted, cooled within hours, and sent directly to retailers and customers at their freshest. It’s a fast, carefully orchestrated rhythm, one that starts long before the first cherries appear and continues the moment each harvest ends, as teams begin nurturing the trees for the next year.

This year’s cherries are now available to order from cherrytime.co.za for delivery in the Western Cape and Johannesburg, and can also be found at retailers nationwide. For those who prefer convenience, Cherry Time™ cherries are available on the Checkers Sixty60 and Pick n Pay ASAP apps. Whether you’re stocking up for hosting, gifting, or simply indulging in the first true flavour of summer, the season’s fruit is now officially within reach.

While the harvest brings abundance, it also invites pause, a moment to reconnect with the rituals that make this time of year feel special. Cherry Time’s seasonal message, Take a Moment, echoes through every part of the brand’s story: the quiet early mornings in the orchards, the families who have tended the trees for generations, and the small, joyful pauses we make when sharing fresh fruit around a table.

To celebrate the season, Cherry Time™ has collaborated with two South African food creators, Astrid Field (@thesweetrebellion) and Naqiyah Mayat (naqiyah_mayat), who have each developed a seasonal recipe to showcase the flavour, versatility and brightness of cherries. Their dishes were created to inspire slow cooking, summer gatherings, and the kind of kitchen moments that become memories.

With the orchards buzzing and the first fruit finally here, Cherry Time™ invites South Africans to Take a Moment, whether it’s the first bite of a perfectly chilled cherry, a shared bowl after lunch, or a quiet pause between the rush of year-end days.

For more information, visit us on: www.cherrytime.co.za

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @sweet_cherrytime

Recipe: Cherry Time Sweetie Pie

By Naqiyah Mayat

Ingredients

Base:
• 1 packet store-bought chocolate biscuits (cream removed and halved)

Marshmallow:
• 2½ Tbsp gelatine
• ½ cup hot water
• 1¾ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp Fabbri cherry syrup

Cherry Time™ Compote:
• 1 cup Cherry Time™ cherries, pitted
• Zest of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp white sugar

Chocolate Coating:
• 1 slab milk chocolate, melted

Method

1. Add Cherry Time™ cherries, lemon zest and sugar to a pan. Cook gently until soft. Cool.
2. Dissolve gelatine in hot water.
3. Beat sugar and ½ cup water for 20 minutes.
4. Slowly add gelatine while beating for another 14 minutes.
5. Add egg white and beat for 1 minute.
6. Stir in Cherry Time™ Compote and Fabbri syrup.
7. Pipe marshmallow onto biscuit bases and refrigerate.
8. Melt chocolate in 10-second intervals until smooth.
9. Dip marshmallow domes into chocolate and allow to set.

Recipe: Cherry Time Tiramisu

By Astrid Field – The Sweet Rebellion 

Ingredients (serves 6–8)

Base:
• 1 × 200 g Boudoir biscuits / ladyfingers

Cherry Time™ Compote:
• 3 cups Cherry Time™ cherries, pitted
• ¼ cup water
• 2 Tbsp kirsch / cherry liqueur / cherry juice
• ⅓ cup caster sugar
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Filling:
• 500 g mascarpone
• ¼ cup kirsch or cherry juice
• 375 ml fresh cream
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract (optional)

Topping:
• 250 ml fresh cream
• 1 Tbsp icing sugar, sifted

Garnish:
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 cup fresh Cherry Time™ cherries

Method

Cherry Time™ Compote:

1. Add Cherry Time™ cherries, water, kirsch/juice, caster sugar and lemon juice to a saucepan.
2. Heat gently and simmer for 3–4 minutes until slightly reduced.
3. Strain; set cherries aside. Cool reserved liquid completely.
4. Optional: stir in 2 Tbsp extra kirsch once cooled.

Filling:

1. Mix mascarpone with kirsch/cherry juice.
2. Whip cream to soft peaks. Add caster sugar, vanilla (and almond extract if using).
3. Whip to medium-stiff peaks.
4. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone in 3–4 additions.

Assembly:

1. Dip ladyfingers lightly into cooled Cherry Time™ liquid.
2. Layer in dish.
3. Spread half mascarpone filling.
   Add drained Cherry Time™ cherries.
4. Add remaining mascarpone.
5. Refrigerate 6–8 hours.

Topping:

1. Whip cream to stiff peaks and sweeten with icing sugar.
2. Pipe over tiramisu.
3. Dust with cocoa powder and garnish with Cherry Time™ cherries.