::A Geek in Korea::

For whatever reason, when it comes to fruits, cherries in Korea are the most irrationally priced item ever. I grew up in the United States, and not that far from Michigan, which happens to be the largest exporter of cherries in the Midwest. The United States is also the number one exporter of cherries worldwide, so perhaps I grew up spoiled and had no idea of my luck.

My mother could purchase cherries when we wanted them for a snack. I think they were my brother’s favorite fruit growing up too. My fondness for cherries comes not from the fruit, although good, but from home baked cherry pies. We got to choose the pie we could have for a birthday dessert, and I always chose cherry. Waiting for it to bake and for the first slice to be served was really difficult. Even better was waking up early the next day and eating the rest of the entire pie with a huge glass of milk was heavenly.

We noticed that Costco had a sale on cherries. Most supermarkets and grocery stores don’t even stock cherries. I emailed my mother for her cherry pie recipe (even though she used canned cherries) and got excited about the prospect of hand made pies again. We set off for Costco today since it was the very last day of their sale with the coupon. We didn’t know how much the final price was, but since we had a coupon, we didn’t think much about it. We arrived at the store and did our usual route through the aisles.

When we got to the fruit aisle, we were a little downtrodden. Two pounds of cherries for 19,900 won. With our coupon, it would be 17,900 won, or about $19 dollars (USD). $9.50 dollars a pound! While we were debating our purchase, several people came up, picked up the box, stared at the price, then backed away slowly. They looked like excellent quality fruit, but even the most spendthrift shoppers didn’t pick them up.

A funny old couple walked up. The woman was very enthused. She shouted to her husband, "Look! Look at this! This is great! It’s on sale!"

The man remained unconvinced. "What are these? How do you even eat them?"

She left empty handed.

So did we. Even if we purchased it with the coupon, that was far too expensive. I remember getting a large bag full of cherries while we were in the United States and was completely blown away at a price one fifth or less of what we pay here. Until I find some cherry pie filling somewhere, it looks like I’ll have to forget about my dream pie for now. If anyone wants to experience what it is like to buy cherries in Korea, I suggest ordering from this site.