In 1629 the colonists coming to America brought about two dozen different varieties of cherries with them. Later, the pioneers carried seeds and trees west. The wild cherries called chokecherries, Prunus virginiana, were already known to Native Americans.

Currently over 900 varieties of sweet cherries are recorded, and 300 sour cherry varieties. In Japan over 100 cherry varieties are grown, with the number of petals per blossom ranging from the usual five to twenty, fifty and even an amazing one hundred petals per blossom, with colors ranging, from white, to pink, to a pale yellow.

It was the French, however, who had the brilliance to mix the cherry with Kirsch, a colorless liqueur that originated in Germany, made from distilled juice of black cherries and crushed cherry stones, and cover the entire ensemble in chocolate, and voila!; the Griotte, or chocolate covered cherry, was born.The smooth, silky sensuousness of this mouth-watering treat is captured, in all its glory, in Demeter's Chocolate Covered Cherries.