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Cherry information

Cherries are great toppings for some of the most delicious desserts and drinks. Not all fruits taste better once baked, but a cherry's flavor is even more emphasized once it is cooked or baked into those delicious cakes and yummy desserts. Cherries don't stay fresh very long. They can be stored for 1 to 3 days only and that's why most cherries are turned into jellies or are preserved in sugar syrup. Most cherries that you could find on stores are preserved so they could last for months and even years! This fruit always have to be picked when they are ripe as they don't ripen like other fruits would after picking.

Cherries' scientific name is Prunus Avium and they belong to the family of Rusaceae. It's a small, rounded fruit that turns to black, yellow or red when it ripens. It contains only 1 seed that is sometimes called as "stone". Cherries are stone fruits or drupes and they are closely related to the plum fruit.

Types of Cherries

Cherries have two major types and they are categorized as "sweet" and "sour". The sour cherries are known to have lower calories than the sweet cherries and they have a higher level of vitamin C (thus they have the sour taste) and b-carotene.

One of the best known sour cherry is the Montgomery variety. This type of cherry is usually the ones you see being canned or are frozen. These cherries are great used as fillings on delicious pie desserts. This type of cherries thrives best on the east and Midwest side of the United States.

There are four common varieties of sweet cherries. The Bing variety is the most common sweet cherry and usually available during the end of May up to the first week of August each year. These cherries are large and round and they're really sweet. Its fresh is kind of purplish and its skin is dark red and can look a bit blackish when it's ripe. The next most common variety of sweet cherries is the Lambert variety. It's not as big as the Bing variety and it resembles a heart shape. The Lamberts last up to the end of August not like the Bings that only last up to the early days of August. The Rainer variety is actually sweeter than the Bing variety but it's milder compared to Bing. Its skin is yellowish and sometimes pinkish as well. The Rainer is not very common as its quantity is quite limited compared to the first two types of sweet cherries. The next type of sweet cherries is Royal Ann. Its skin is yellow and these cherries are usually the variety used and turned into maraschino cherries.

75% of Cherries Produced worldwide originates in Europe

Way back from history, the two types of cherries, the wild cherry and the sour cherry have both originated back in Europe and Western Asia. The wild cherries gave rise to the sweet Cherries we know today while the sour cherries are the ones most often used for cooking. Because of its history that traces back to Europe, it's not surprising that the Europeans cultivate the most cherries that sums up to about 75% of the world's cherry production.

In the United States, the total production of cherries are grown in different regions but up to around 70% of the cherry production are coming from only four states and they are the states of Washington, Idaho, Utah and Oregon.

Attractive flowers

Cherries are planted both for its delicious fruit and also because of its attractive flowers that blossoms during spring time. Sakura, or Cherry Blossom, is a Japanese cherry that became a national symbol for the Japanese and is celebrated during Japan's Hanami festival. Some cherry varieties are actually non-bearing and are just known as ornamental cherries. These cherry cultivars have double flowers as their stamens and pistils are being replaced by petals. Thus, these cherries are only grown for decorative purposes.

Selecting Cherries

When you wish to buy some cherries in the supermarket, make sure to select each of them individually. Remember, cherries don't last long and can only be stored for up to 3 days so you have to buy the freshest stock if you wish to maximize its life span. Cherries should be kept in low temperature and should be moist to keep its flavor and texture as fresh as possible.

Look for cherries that is about an inch in diameter as smaller cherries are not always good and are probably picked when it's not completely ripen. Cherries should be plump and glossy and shouldn't be flabby or soft. If it feels soft to the touch, don't even think of buying those. Also, spoiled cherries tend to make the other fresher cherries start to decay rapidly as well. So, if you see lots of decayed cherries mixed with some fresher cherries, you may consider looking for cherries some other place as choosing fresh cherries out of those spoiled ones is not a good idea.

How to Store Cherries

Unwashed cherries from the supermarket should be packed in plastic bags loosely or you could put them on shallow pans and just cover with a plastic wrap. You must store your packed cherries in a refrigerator to lengthen its life span. Refrigerated cherries can last up to a week!

If you wish to store your cherries in your freezer, make sure to clean your cherries properly. Spread them out on a cookie sheet to drain them properly and place them in your freezer overnight. After that, once they're already frozen, you may now transfer them to a plastic container and freeze them again. Doing so would preserve your cherries for as long as one year.

Cherries are great once eaten raw especially when it's ripe from picking. It's great for cooking too. Make sure you prepare it properly without spoiling it to preserve its taste and lock in the flavor.