In honor of our current cherry season, here are ten fun cherry facts! While we won't be having a cherry festival this year, you can purchase fresh and frozen Kimmel cherries in the Apple Barn while supplies last!
Ten Cherry Facts
- There are two main varieties of cherries, sweet and tart! Sweet cherries are eaten fresh, while tart cherries are usually used in baking with an additional sweetener.
- Kimmel grows Montmorency cherries. These cherries are tart cherries that typically grow well in the midwest climate. Sweeter varieties tend to grow better farther west.
- Kimmel has around 250 tart cherry trees that produce an average of 7,000 cherries each. That is a total of 1,750,000 cherries each year under ideal conditions.
- Eating raw tart cherries has many health benefits, including decreased cholesterol and decreased risk of hardened arteries.
- Drinking tart cherry juice before and after a workout helps with muscle recovery. This is because tart cherry juice is able to decrease muscle damage as well as strength loss and reduces inflammation and oxidative stress.
- Kimmel’s cherries contain the antioxidant melatonin. Melatonin is known to help induce sleep and help fight jet lag.
- Tart varieties of cherries are typically used in cherry pies. Cherry pies are the fifth most popular pie in America.
- Cherries are stone fruit which are fruits with large pits, or "stones," in the middle. Peaches and plums are other popular stone fruits. Here at Kimmel, all of our cherries are pitted in our 80-year-old pitting machine before they are sold.
- Cherries contain anthocyanin, which is a natural pigment and antioxidant. Due to the acidity in cherries, anthocyanin gives cherries their red color. In less acidic foods, anthocyanin gives off a blue pigment.
- Cherries are only available seasonally in stores because, unlike apples and other fruit, they cannot be kept in a cryo freezer to stay fresh. Cherries can usually go from tree to store in 1-7 days, depending on where you are located in the country.