Although a visit to Door County, Wisconsin offers pleasures year-round, cherry season is one of the most colorful times to go. Writer Suzanne Corbett tells what it’s like to make one’s way through the region, eating Door County Cherries and the iconic food and drink made with them. Before to check websites for the latest updates due to COVID-19. 

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Door County’s white stone beaches, quaint harbor villages and cooler temperatures have brought countless over-heated Midwesterners to enjoy cooler temps while drinking in its spectacular scenery. In essence, all good things, yet what brings me to Door County in the summertime are cherries.

Beginning mid-July to mid-August, Door County orchards look as if they are painted with red polka dots as roadside stands and markets overflow with the peninsula’s star attraction and signature crop: the Montmorency cherry. This tart, bright red cherry honors its origin, Montmorency, an area north of Paris where they were first cultivated in the 1700s. It’s a crop that has found success in Door County, Wisconsin since 1892, the year University of Wisconsin orchardists Emmert Goff and Arthur Hatch planted the county’s first experimental orchard.

Let it be known that Goff and Hatch’s first orchards did include plums, apples and pears, which had success. But it was the cherries that were destined to make Door County famous.

Within 30 years after the planting of those first few acres, Door County was gowning ten percent of the nation’s cherry crop. A bountiful harvest led to the conversion of an old pea cannery in Sturgeon Bay repurposed for the surplus crop. At the time, it was the world’s largest cherry canning operation.

Hungry for more? Read about the Best Places to Go in Door County: Editor’s Picks

Sugar, cherries, and liquor make Bounce, a popular drink. The cherries can then be used in cooking and to top ice cream.

Hungry for more? Get the recipes for Cherry Bounce and Belgian Cherry Pie. 

Needless to say, life in Door County was just a bowl of cherries. And in my opinion, it still is – a place any foodie or cherry aficionado can appreciate. Consequently, its farmers and villages plan to keep it that way, which was the original reason the Cherry Blossom Festival was established in 1929. One of the earliest agritourism events in the country, it was developed decades before the term was coined. The event, along with Door County’s bountiful cherry yield, continues to attract tourists to pick, taste and carry home sacks of cherries for baking into future pies.

While Door County cherry pie baked with Montmorency cherries is a treat available year round, pies seem to taste a little better when it’s cherry season. And those cherry pies are on the menu everywhere, from roadside stands to supper clubs, and served as the finale to Door County’s other culinary wonder, the fish boil.

For a slice of pie, or a whole pie to devour later, make a stop at Sweetie Pies. Nestled among the diverse art studios and gift shops of Fish Creek’s Settlement Shops, Sweetie Pies bakes 30 different pie flavors. During July and August, cherry pie is at the top of its leaderboard. All pies are handmade, crust to filling, and stuffed to the brim with cherries grown down the road at Hyline Orchard. The Orchard and Farm Market operates a u-pick option, another such operation being Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery & Market. Both orchards are located along Highway 42, just minutes away from Sweetie Pies in Fish Creek.

Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery & Market, is one of the county’s largest orchards. It has become a destination itself on account of its diverse activities, including cherry picking and sampling wines or ciders from their onsite presses. You’ll also find baked goods and cheeses laced with cherries up for sale.

For those seeking to test their athletic ability, step up and try to break the distance record for the Cherry Pit Spit. Current record for men is 48 feet, one inch. For women, it’s 44 feet, three inches. Long distance Cherry Pit Spiting has yet to be deemed an Olympic sport, but that doesn’t matter. Lautenbach’s never seems to lack for amateur athletes who rise to the challenge in hopes of breaking the record.

Try your luck, and talents, seeing how far you can spit a cherry pit on the track at Lautenbach’s. 

Hungry for more? If you miss cherry season, there are still plenty of reasons to go to Door County in the Fall.

Making Belgian Pie with Door County Cherries

Master Belgian Pie baker, Gina Guth, teaches the secrets of pie making to a class in Door County.

Door County’s long list of cherry delights includes a delicacy that’s indeed rare outside county limits: The Belgian Cherry Pie.

The recipe was transported to the area by Belgian immigrants who settled in Southern Door County in the 1850s. I find myself considering the Belgian Cherry Pie to be the love child of cheesecake and traditional pie. Baked on a flat disc of sweet, yeast-raised dough similar to Danish pastry, it’s spread with a cherry filling and topped with a sweet creamy cheese. Bakers also top their pies with other toppings such as apple, poppy seed, or sweetened rice. However, when in Door County, go for the cherry version. Get the recipe on this link.

Gina Guth, owner of the Flour Pot, teaches the art of baking the Belgian Cherry Pie for Door County visitors and locals at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Sister Bay. The hour long, hands-on class features Guth’s vintage family recipe, which has been passed down through the generations. It’s used each year to produced hundreds of pies for Kermis, the annual Belgian Festival held each September in Door County’s Belgian village of Brussels. Check the local bakeries and groceries, which often sell Belgian Cherry Pies throughout the lower peninsula. If you’re craving Belgian Cherry Pie and your plans won’t be taking you to Door County anytime soon, Gina Guth has shared the recipe. Get that recipe here, along with the recipe for a favorite, complimentary drink of mine, a concoction called the Cherry Bounce. It’s an easy-to-make Door County specialty. For those over twenty-one, it will surely warm the heart and chase away the winter’s chill.

For more information about Door County, Wisconsin, visit their website, here. 

— Story and photos by Suzanne Corbett

Hungry for more? Door County is also known for its cheese scene. Listen to our podcast conversation with a cheesemaker.