CJ Olson Cherries

I needed a fruit basket as a get well gift for a close friend. I went to Olson’s Cherries and they were terrific. They helped me select a variety of fruits, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate covered items. They put together a beautiful basket very quickly on the spot.
They were a little more pricey than other locations, but their fruit selection and quick turn-​around made the additional cost worth it!

This is a good place for dried fruit and items with shelf life like jam/​preserves. The fresh fruit is a mixed bag. Positives are lots of interesting varieties like arkansas black apple and its a beautiful store. Negatives are that fruit not always fresh (apples not crunchy) and prices are a bit high. Probably best to ask the employees which fruit is the freshest.

This store has a vintage look, superb products and excellent customer service!
I shopped around for local produce while taking in the history of a four generation family business. I was surrounded by a rainbow of colors and flavors.
As a foodie, I like to give healthy and local food gifts to my friends on different occasions. The outcome is always outstanding! Happy friends, happy me!
Not only do I love fruits but chocolate is my weakness.
This place is a Heaven for chocoholics like me! Such a wide variety of artisanal treats. I felt like a kid in a toy store.
I loved the experience, I can honestly say I am addicted!

Okay, I admit. I’ve been ruined by CJ Olson’s. I can no longer stand buying certain items anywhere else, ever. It’s just not worth it. Life is too short to ingest mediocre foods.
My faves: the fresh bing cherries are huge, crunchy and sweet. They are the filet mignon of cherries. Others cannot compare.
Okay, I’m salivating as I write…
Next, the apricots. My personal all time favorite (and my Mother’s too) are the slab apricots. They are super moist, sweet and so mouth satisfying. The fancy apricots aren’t bad either.
Then…excuse me I have to wipe up the drool, the cherry pie. GAWD, how can something like this be legal. Be sure to put it in the oven for a heat up if you can wait.
Last, the chocolates and who doesn’t like chocolate. It’s a tie for me between the pastel covered bing cherries and the chocolate covered apricots. All these make great gifts too but wait… first give yourself the gift of the best of the best.
Although I’ve ordered online when time doesn’t permit, it’s really time for another trip to Olson’s. In the past, I’ve been to their Food and Gift Faire in November so I feel a road trip coming on!

This place is a good place to get select items. Great service and samples. I paid $ 9.17 for bananas, 3 navel oranges, small basket of strawberries and 1 plum. The fruit was not as fresh as I would like it. There was some damaged fruit throughout the store.
None of my produce was organic. I think next time I will just go to my local farmers market in Palo Alto and stop by this place for special items.

If you ever get a chance to pick up ‘Sunnyvale’ by Geoff Goodell, please do so. Its a good read. Finding interesting books about the Bay Area, Silicon Valley in particular is difficult. There are so many stories out there beyond the industry. One of the reasons why you should come here.
CJ Olson Cherries is mentioned in the biopic. Published at the height of the
boom, the book reminisces of how everyone was caught up in the whimsy back in the day. Fast forward to present day, some of the companies mentioned in the book are no longer, but CJ Olson Cherries is. The casualty is the orchard that use to surround it. Now its a soul-​less strip mall and ironically where TJs is now is where a Border’s used to be. Also ironic is in the book where the author remarks to the sales clerk how much dried apricots are and her re-​assurance that they’re that good. I didn’t pick up any dried apricots on my visit, but the prices are still up there.
That said, this boutique fruit stand is an institution and what the Valley represented back in the day. A mix of old and new going back post WWII and through the Cold War. Both as the foundation of the tech we know today.
Aforementioned pricing is up there, but the product is handsome. Interesting stuff in the fridge including pies. Probably a good stop to pick up holiday gifts or the occasional piece of fruit or two. Nice collection of celebrities on the wall.
Of course my noob friend goes for the mangoes.

Sorry, but I cannot in good conscience pay 20 bucks for a 4×4×3 basket of cherries (maybe 20 cherries?). This place is a rip-​off.

CJ Olson Cherries is a top quality place. They have great quality fruits and vegetables. As I recall it’s almost all organic and they provide samples. If you are looking for a better priced place then try growing your own. :) I don’t come here for the produce. However, sometimes I buy it. Let’s face it, most of us like Deborah’s pies. With nearly 2 – 3 lbs of Bing Cherries per pie of real fruit this may be a contender for the best cherry pie in the US. If you are wondering where the pie places are, you need to look no further. Here they are:
1. Mom’s Apple Pies (Sebastopol) — Best Apple Pie in the US (Gravenstein Apples — in Fall, both tart and sweet). Ask about the history of the apples.
2. Gizditch Range — All different pies (near Santa Cruz). Great apple cider.
3. Machado’s — All different pies. They leave them out as they cook so you can smell them (near Auburn, off of Rt. 80). A great stop as you head to Tahoe. Not open in the winter.
4. The Apple Farm (San Luis Obispo) — Apple Dumplings.
That’s the list. Enjoy!

I go in here frequently because the place sells better quality fruit than do the grocery chains. The staff are always friendly and can assist in picking out ripe fruit or tell you how long to wait before eating it. Plus they offer samples!

Insanely fresh produce. I just went in today to get some Scottish Whiskey Cake (which is made in house using their produce and I fantastic) and they had unbelievably good green mangos, honey fire nectarines and apricots in addition to many other seasonal fruits. The apricots were from a local farm and were getting delivered every 2 hours, fresh and ripe off the trees!!! If you haven’t been, go! They always give out samples of everything they sell. Diana is my favorite employee, she has great customer service and her enthusiasm is contagious.

For being a fruit stand, this place doesn’t have many options besides the typical oranges, apples, etc. The best part of it are all the samples you can try, nuts, chocolate covered fruits, dried and fresh fruit. The prices are high unless they have a special. The day I went, the middle aged woman was making out with an older white haired man right there! Like REALLY frenching!
Not very appetizing, and a bit odd to see. I usually never see older people doing that.
I prefer the fruit stand down the street (Felipe’s) which has much more produce, and fruits.

I was soo surprised. When I entered (looks like a tourist trap –unbelievably overpriced as well — even tho’ it’s in the middle of a fairly uninteresting length of El Camino, in Sunnyvale) there were some displays of untempting fresh fruit, but since it was holidayish in there + I had seen this place, passed by on ECR, for years … I was curious. And I had to bring a dessert to a party, so I had a few rationales ready in case the cherry pie was like $ 40 or something. They were a CHERRY orchard, right?, at one point in their history anyway (theyve got cheesy framed headshots, autographed, on the wall, like they were an historic Italian restaurant/​deli in nyc).
I must sound grouchy already so it’s not suspenseful for me to disclose that a very small pie — oh! when I finally found the fridge (wha.?) where the fresh (i left out the quotes, cuz now i feel bad– maybe their rent tripled in the last few Googley yrs?) pies were, this older guy came over + gave me a desperado upbeat pitch (now i feel really bad) about how many lbs /​FRESH cherries were in this pie I was looking at – so so far I was still kind of hoping it wld be AMAZING, worth it, etc — but MAN! It was like. Well. Such a tragic pie. Jeesh. Wha happened?
I might have been more pie-​connoiseurish at that time (Xmas week, couple months ago) because around Thanksgiving I had gone into this cute little old school bakery in Sunnyvale, in the oldish shopping ctr on Bernardo (@El Camino) with the Safeway nr where we live. I was just desperate for a coffee, + since I was back in Sunnyvale after 15 yrs, it was great chatting w/​a local — anyway she said they were slammed with orders for pie (for Thanksgiving pickup) + since my holiday plans were NIL, i thought PIE cld make up for everything. It was like $ 12, + I picked it up in the a.m.
My bf is strangely not into desserts (weirdo) but we were dying — DYING — over this pie (the girl said the cherry was her fave so i took her advice). This little humble cute bakery is AMAZING. It was a really cute name too, but it’s not coming to me…(I think it’s three adjectives, if that helps (?))
Their cookies + ok EVERYTHING are really perfect — dreamy. (+ that was a diff time/​so that wld account for a skew due to ravenous hunger or something). I wanted to support cute little neighborhood non-​chains, so I wldve accepted average level pie experience, but that cherry pie was seriously ridic heavenly yum-​ness. Aw man. Feel bad to write a glowy review of ANOTHER place here, but Olsen’s should know their – (i was going to say competition, but come on!)
Sorry, Olsens, but from the street you like you’d be the final word in Cherries, so I felt tricked.
[Sugar Butter Flour PASTRY SHOP nxt to Safeway on El Camino at Bernardo. Best cherry pie EVER! Apparently they do wedding cakes + fancy stuff too. They are GENIUS.]

The Cherry Festival always happens each year during late May in sunny Sunnyvale!
Lots of fun: free cherry-​lious pancake, sample a variety of cherries and other products, contests (like guessing how many cherries are in the jar or how many cherries it takes to make a cherry pie), and cherry orchard tours! Bring the whole family for a fun day and buy some yummy treats to take home!
This is definitely a great place to get locally fresh and delicious souvenirs for your out of town friends!
P. S. Yes, I’m one of those people… I guessed how many cherries were in their jar (I guessed 86) and I won a $ 25 gift card! Yay! :D I plan to purchase some sweet cherry tea and fresh fruit pies with my winnings! haha

Aw maaaannnn! I stopped by CJ before the airport to grab some wholesome organic goodies for the flight, and certainly, the strawberries I bought here were lovely. But for a «farmers market», I expected more of the produce to be local. A lot of the stuff was from Chile, Mexico and places far far away from little old Sunnyvale, California. As a locavore, this was saddening. However, there are a lot — I mean A LOT, like over half the store full — of sugary treats for people with sweet teeth :)
Sounds like I’ll have to come back during actual cherry season.

It’s like having a farmer’s market and fine chocolate store available every day.
My standard for dried cherries is Chukar, from Washington State. WA has PERFECT cherry growing weather. Chukar is super pricey and hard to find in SF. Whole foods claims they carry Chukar, but not at the SF stores. Chukar ships, but why do that anymore if I can get great local dried cherries?
Olson’s dried Bing cherries are local to northern CA and are sweet and chewy — just about as delicious as Chukar’s. Olson’s has the best dried mission figs I have ever had. The dried pears are not only the best I have ever had, but measurably better than what I can get at the super pricey San Francisco Ferry Bldg farmer’s market.
The chocolate covered fruits are wonderful. The milk chocolate covered apricots are dreamy.
Their raw and candied nuts are wonderful. Mmmm, candied pistachios. I have tried to candy nuts before and… it didn’t go well. I appreciate someone else candying the nuts and providing top quality dried fruit to go on our cheese plate.
They have samples of everything and if they are missing a sample of something, let them know and they will go in the back so you can taste before you buy.

My Grandmother had been asking my Husband and I to bring her a cherry pie for months. Every time we visit, «Did you bring me a piece of pie? Where’s my pie? Did you know I looove cherry pie?». We wanted to oblige, but she was on a very strict diet during those times she pleaded us. A few days after she was released from her diet restrictions, we headed straight to CJ Olson’s to grab their famous cherry pie.
After you pick one up, you bring it home and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes to get it all warmed up. There’s directions on the box. Warming it up definitely makes a difference and I would highly recommend it. When you cut into it for the first time it releases cherry-​infused steam that then wafts through the house. Soon everyone starts emerging from all the different rooms in the house and they all begin floating by their noses into the kitchen (like in the cartoons) and they’re not even sure why.
The pie was split up and handed out and my Grandmother can’t stop oohing and aahhing about it. My aunt asks her if she wants a second piece and my grandma replies with «I thought you were never going to ask!!». We all enjoyed that cherry pie and all agreed that the crust and filling is what sets it apart from the rest. It doesn’t have that gooey, syrupy, out-​of-​a-​can cherry filling. It has a real filling that balances the sweet and tangy very well and a soft, flaky crust. They are a little pricey, ringing up around $ 20 – 23, so just make sure the occasion is CJ Olson worthy.

Boy, do I love coming here. Such a great variety of fresh and dried fruit, nuts, jellies & jams, candies, and juices. And pie. (If the Blenheim Apricot pie is around, do get it!)
Cherry season is tops around here. Their cherries are gorgeous (if a little on the pricy side) and taste wonderful. I love the different varieties, and enjoy knowing that they come from a nearby family farm. As other reviewers mention, it’s great to try the other local fruit (Santa Rosa plums, Blenheim apricots, etc).
But really, this is a great place year round. I can imagine coming here around Christmas time and putting together some fantastic gift baskets, filled with nuts, jams, and dried fruit, to send to friends and relatives.
Not sure what you want? They have little testers of practically everything here, so you have the opportunity to try before you buy.

It is HERE !!!
It is the three week window frame that makes CJ Olson a destination.
It is the time of year when the holy trinity have arrived … LOCAL Bing cherries, Blenheim apricots and Santa Rosa plums.
The soil and growing conditions in this part of the Bay Area make for optimum deliciousness.
The deep, dark, perfect Bings are in a different class from any others. They are cherry royalty. There is a crispness when you bite the cherry. It is meaty with über-​intense cherry flavor
The extravagant apricots are never mushy. They pack lush sweetness with faint tang to make things interesting.
Keep napkins handy when biting into the juicy plums that have a play of tart /​sweet outrageous tang.
If you stop by at the right time and glance in the back, a table of ladies sort through buckets of the fruit picking out perfect pieces.
I was surprised to see that Olson didn’t have five stars and noticed a lot of the reviews were from people who stopped by the stand in in the winter months … are you people insane?
That is similar to reviewing a rose garden in January. There is a time and season for everything and now is the season for Olson. Don’t miss that window at the end of June and beginning of July.
At one time the stand only sold the local fruit for a few weeks each year. A few years ago in almost closed … the orchards to be razed and the land converted to more profitable condos and businesses
The heroine was Debora Olson who saved the farm … literally.
The change was that the stand was open year-​round with Deborah selling fruit and veggies from other quality growers along the West Coast. Jams, jellies, juices, candy, nuts and a lot of other items were added.
They are quality but the shining stars are those local cherries, apricots and plums.
If I am on the West Coast I make at a minimum of one pilgrimage to Olson at this time of year. This year I drove down from Berkeley.
Five stars … truly as good as it gets.

…Frankenfruits. OK it’s nearly Halloween and I don’t think I’ve ever had hybrid-​fruits before. Plumcots, apriplums, pluots, and apriums are hybrids of interspecific cross pollination. In plain-​Anglais, this is some regulatory agencies’ idea of interspecific plums inbreeding. Is this even legal?
OK, I tried their Pluot, and guess what? This plum/​apricot fruit tasted like a plum, but crunched like an apple. I hate mushy plums, and I like this genetically mutated version.
I had the Pluot of the Flavor Fall variety today. So this sili-​valley-​fruit was of large size, average flavor, red skin with yellow flesh, and since October is sans-​cherries, this boutique fruit stand had this as fruit-​o-​the-​week.
With my Naked Mango flavored drink and my Plumcot-​apriplum-​pluot meal, I was happy.
CJ Olson Cherries is a far cry from their stand eons ago when this was actually a fruit stand with wooden sidings, with their back lot full of huge cherry trees, with the store runned by a few kids whose last name was actually Olson at a time when Beta format was just being ousted by VCR tapes. Fast forward to today when smart phones and iPads thrive. This store is still at the same location and the Olson Cherry orchard that once stood is in name only for a small shopping plaza where the trees once stood. The store still carries a variety of fruits, nuts and flakes (no that’s California… the gronola state), along with prepackaged dried fruits. The folks are still nice, and their produce are still of high quality.
OK, enough of Sunnyvale history… it’s October and it’s not cherry season. But, hey this boutique fruit stand introduced me to a new fruit to byte (sp) on. This is a time of hybrid cars, so why not hybrid fruits.

What a beautiful place this is. Everything is organized. And labeled!
There are plenty of samples to be had…
I’m impressed with the variety of dried fruits, nuts and chocolate dipped concoctions.
Prices = moderate.