🍒 Key takeaways
- Belgium has no official national fruit
- But the cherry holds a special cultural place, especially in Wallonia
- The Schaerbeek cherry is a historic Belgian variety at the heart of Kriek beer
- Kriek, the cherry-fermented lambic beer, is a worldwide symbol of Belgian craft brewing
- The province of Namur, where our orchard stands, is a historic cherry-growing area
Ask yourself: what is Belgium's national fruit? You'll probably hesitate. We did too, and here's the honest answer: Belgium has no official national fruit. No decree, no ceremony. But if you look at the history, the beer culture and the countryside... the cherry has something pretty special here.
Does Belgium have a national fruit? 🤔
In some countries, the answer is clear. Japan associates the cherry blossom (sakura) with its national identity, though those are ornamental trees that bear no edible fruit. France celebrates the Mirabelle plum as a regional emblem. Belgium? Nothing official.
No federal text designates a Belgian national fruit. We checked, on the side of the federal government, the Walloon Region, the Flemish institutions. Nothing. So technically, no.
But ask a different question: which fruit has the longest history in Belgium, a presence in our most iconic beer tradition, and orchards stretching from the Hesbaye to the Condroz? The cherry.
The Schaerbeek cherry: a historic Belgian variety 🌸
There is a cherry variety named after a municipality in Brussels. The Schaerbeek cherry (or Schaarbeekse kers in Dutch) is a small, tart cherry with dark skin and firm flesh, once grown across the region of Brussels and Brabant.
It looks nothing like the large sweet bigarreau cherries we grow at Fernelmont. It's an acidic cherry, a bit austere to eat raw, but that takes on a whole different dimension when left to ferment with lambic beer.
In the 19th century, large swathes of Schaerbeek cherry orchards surrounded Brussels. Urbanisation wiped out nearly all of them. Today, a handful of breweries and passionate growers keep this variety alive, mainly for producing authentic Kriek.
Kriek: Belgium's cherry beer 🍺
If the cherry has one ambassador in Belgium, it's Kriek. Pronounced "kreek": that's the Flemish word for sour cherry (griotte).
Kriek is a lambic beer. Lambic is a spontaneously fermented beer, produced only in the Senne valley and Pajottenland in Belgian Brabant. No added yeast: wild micro-organisms in the air do all the work. Already unique. And when Schaerbeek cherries are left to macerate for several months in this lambic... you get a beer like no other in the world.
Breweries like Cantillon (founded 1900), Boon and Lindemans keep this tradition alive. Lambic has held Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status from the EU since 1997, recognising its unique, centuries-old brewing process.
Drinking a Kriek means drinking a little piece of Belgian fruit history. Not bad for a fruit with "no official title".
Cherry growing in Belgium 🌳
Cherry production in Belgium is concentrated mainly in Wallonia, in the provinces of Liège, Namur and Brabant wallon. The Hesbaye region in Liège province is historically Belgium's main cherry-growing area, with high-trunk orchards that have shaped the landscape for generations.
The province of Namur, where our orchard sits in Fernelmont, is part of that heritage. The Condroz plateau offers good conditions for cherry trees: well-drained soils, summer sunshine, and winters cold enough that the trees can rest and bloom properly in spring.
The varieties grown today have changed a lot. The Schaerbeek cherry has all but disappeared from commercial orchards. Modern growers prefer more generous bigarreaus: Burlat, the first of the season; Regina, our favourite at Fernelmont, large, firm, sweet and late; Kordia, which we've just replanted. Learn more in our cherry season guide for Belgium.
Verdict: does the cherry deserve the title? 🏆
Officially, no. Belgium has no national fruit.
Culturally? We'd say yes. The cherry is in the beer (Kriek), in the Walloon orchards, in the place names (Schaerbeek), and in popular tradition. It comes back every summer with the regularity of a long-awaited appointment.
And for us at Fernelmont, the cherry is something more than a fruit. It's four years of family adventure, hundreds of families heading home with their baskets, and a season that lasts a few weeks but stays in people's minds all year.
National fruit or not, it gets our vote 🍒
Come pick your Belgian cherries! 🍒
Every summer, we welcome you to our orchard in Fernelmont for a family self-picking experience. Fresh Regina cherries, picked by your own hands, in the heart of the Walloon countryside.
Sources: Schaerbeek cherry — Wikipedia · Kriek lambic — Wikipedia · Lambic and TSG status — Wikipedia · HORAL — Traditional Lambic Brewers · Cantillon Brewery (est. 1900).