Life is a bowl of cherries, so it’s said. But you probably don’t know
everything about those little red fruits that come in varieties that are
sweet and tart.
With the 37th annual Cherry Blossom Festival running this weekend at
the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, it’s the perfect time to boost your stone
fruit I.Q.
Here are five things you need to know about cherries.
1) They’re good for muscle soreness
Research in the journal Nutrients last month noted that cherries pack
fiber, vitamin C and potassium, reported Prevention. Eating the fruit,
authors noted, can cut “inflammation, exercise-induced muscle soreness
and loss of strength and blood pressure acutely after ingesting
cherries.”
2) They help you catch zzz’s
Cherries are one of the few natural foods to contain melatonin, the
chemical that helps control the body’s internal clock. One recent small
study found drinking tart cherry juice led to minor improvements in
sleep duration and quality in adults suffering from chronic insomnia.
3) A cherry tree typically has 7,000 cherries
That’s enough to make 28 pies, according to Growing, an industry trade magazine. Figure 250 cherries per pie.
4) The Wolverine State is also the Cherry State
Orchards in northern Michigan produce more than 200 million pounds of
cherries each year. That accounts for 75% of tart cherries grown
annually in the U.S. and 20% of sweet cherries. Traverse City, MI, is
known nationally as the “Cherry Capital of the World.”
Closer to home, you can pick your own cherries in the summer at such
places as Lawrence Farms Orchards in Newburgh, NY, about 1.5 hours from
New York City. (lawrencefarmsorchards.com)
5) Removing the stone doesn’t have to be the pits
You don’t need to buy an expensive pitter or special tool to remove the
pit from these tasty little orbs.
A large drinking straw — ask for an
extra the next time you buy a bubble tea — does the trick. Insert the
straw in one end of a cherry and the pit pops out the other.
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