Cherries
cerise (French), Kirsche (German), ciliegia (Italian), cereza (Spanish), cereja (Portuguese), kers (Dutch), kirsebaer (Danish), körshör (Swedish), kirsebaer (Norweigian), kirsikka/hapankirsikka* (Finnish), chereshnya/vishnya* (Russian), czeresnia/wisnia* (Polish), cseresznyepiros (Hungarian), cireasa/visina* (Romanian), cheresha/vishna* (Bulgarian), tresnja/visnja* (Serbo-Croat), kerasiá (Greek), kiraz/visne* (Turkish), dudevan (Hebrew), kurayz (Arabic), gilas (Persian), ying tao (Chinese), sakurambo/suminomizakura* (Japanese), buah céri (Indonesian)
(Prunus sp. -- Family Rosaceae)
Cherries are related to plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds, plus many others from this vast and versatile Rose family. Cultivated cherries descended from two wild species, P. avium, the ancestor of the sweet varieties, and P. cerasus, the parent of the sour types. Both are native to western Asia. Some wild cherries, however, are poisonous. The wild sweet cherry tree is a handsome one that grows higher than its cultivated descendents. Cherry trees in blossom are one of the great delights of spring and, eventually, form the prized fruit which hang in pairs from long stalks. The skin of these small round fruits can vary in colour from pale creamy-yellow to deep red to almost black. The firm juicy flesh can be either sweet or sour, depending on the variety.
The original wild sweet cherries were known as mazzards and were cultivated by the Chinese at least 3,000 years ago. Mazzards were also known to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The classical Greek name was 'kerasos', from which "cherry" is derived. By the 1st century CE, Pliny the Elder recorded eight varieties under cultivation in Italy and that the fruit was grown as far away as Britain. However, after the fall of the Roman Empire, cultivation declined; and the fruit had to be reintroduced into England in the early 17th century. About the same time, colonists were taking the cherry to New England. By 1640, two dozen named varieties were being grown in England, with the most in Kent, which has always been the principal cherry county. Parallel developments have taken place in France and Italy, the two main European producers, as well as in the US, especially California, Oregon, and Washington states. The number of cultivated cherry varieties worldwide is now estimated to be about 900 for sweet and 300 for sour.
Cherries are a good source of Vitamins A and C and potassium, and sour cherries contain more Beta carotene than the sweet. They also contain pectin and anthocyanins, which are flavonoids linked to the prevention of cancer and heart disease. One study found cherry juice to be a potent antibacterial agent in the fight against tooth decay, showing that cherry juice could block up to 89% of the enzyme activity leading to plaque formation. Cherries have also been effective in treating the symptoms of gout. Some people have shown an allergy toward cherries. Often these people are also allergic to almonds, peaches, apricots, and plums, as all belong to the same family. The mahaleb or St. Lucy's cherry (P. mahaleb) is native to Asia Minor, but now grows throughout Europe. Its kernels provide a Turkish sweetmeat generally known as "crème de noyau". Other cherries include the Pitanga, the Physalis fruits (ground or winter cherry), Barbados cherry, the Cornelian cherry, and the chokecherry.
There are three main types of cherry: sweet, sour, and dual purpose. Maraschino cherries are entirely different, and a description follows.
Sweet cherries, and their very many hybrids, fall into two main groups:
-- Bigarreaus have firm, crisp flesh and are best known by the variety called Napoleons. These are large pale yellow cherries tinged with light red. Their crisp fragrant flesh is slightly tart. Another is the very popular Bing cherry, which is a large, heart-shaped, deep red fruit with a superb flavour and widely grown in North America. Other firm sweet cherries include the light red and yellow Royal Ann (White Napolean in Britain) and the Black Schmidt. Lambert is a smaller heart-shaped, red cherry, closely resembling the Bing in taste and texture. Others include Van, Chapman, Larian, and Black Republic.
-- Geans/Guines have soft juicy flesh and come in many colours. Black Tartarian are deep purplish-black from the skin to the stone. Early rivers have dark purple skins and flesh with very small stones. They are also very fragrant and juicy. Ranier has golden skin with a pink blush and is quite sweet. The famous Swiss black cherry jam is made from intensely dark guines.
Sour cherries are too tart to eat raw and must be cooked. Fresh sour cherries contains about six times the Vitamin A as fresh sweet cherries, but all fresh cherries are good sources of Vitamin C. Since many of the sour cherries are preserved, this is made easier with the advent of cherry pitters. Olive pitters work just as well and make pitting much easier with less waste. The two main types of sour cherry are as follows:
-- Morello have dark juice. In France, morello cherries form a popular confectionary item known as griottes, which are a specialty of the Franche-Comté. Long-stalked griotte cherries are plentiful in the vicinity of Besançon, and also form the basis for a popular confection. The black Morello cherry is an essential for black cherry jam and dessert dishes.
-- Amarelle have a light, almost colourless juice. Montmorency is a famous variety and are bright red cherries with a sweet-sour flavour. They are the most popular sour cherry in Canada and have given their name to a range of dishes, which include the fruit, from duck to gâteau to ice creams. English cherries are small, bright orangey-red fruit with soft translucent flesh and mainly used for preserves.
Dual-purpose cherries are the third type in the basic cherry category that include the dukes and royals. These will have a mix of sweet and sour flavours. This kind of cherry came to England from Médoc, and the name was adapted to May Duke, and then abbreviated.
Maraschino cherries are small wild damasca or amaresca cherries from Dalmatia (now part of Croatia). The small, very sour cherry was originally grown near Zara, the capital of Dalmatia. They are distilled into a colourless sweet, sticky Italian liqueur called maraschino. The famous bottled maraschino cherries were originally damasca cherries preserved in maraschino liqueur, but now they tend to be ordinary bleached cherries, tinted with artificial colouring and steeped in syrup flavoured with bitter almonds. Glacé cherries are made by ordinary methods of candying.
Barbados cherry, acerola, West Indian cherry, Peurto Rican cherry, native cherry, garden cherry
cerise des Antilles/cerise carrée (French), Acerola (German), cereza/cereza de Jamaica (Spanish), cereja (Portuguese), malpi (Philippines), acerola (Puerto Rico), cereza de Barbados (Mexico), semeruco (Venezuela), cereza criollo (Cuba), grosella (Panama), manzanita (St. Domingo)
(Malphigia punicifolia formerly glabra -- Family Malpighiaceae)
The Barbados cherry is sometimes more commonly known as acerola, depending on the country. It is the most important member of a group of small fruiting trees and shrubs native to tropical and subtropical regions of America. Its fame stems from the fact that it was found to have a remarkably potent vitamin C content. Outdoing even rose hips, it is the richest of all fruits for this vitamin, having more than twenty times that of an orange, and containing as much as 4000 mg per 100 g of fruit. For this reason, it is now cultivated for medicinal purposes. Because of its high ascorbic acid content, the fruit is much too sour to be eaten raw, except in the West Indies where it is much cultivated. It has been introduced elsewhere, including Hawaii. The fruit is a bright red, about the size of a cherry, with shallow furrows running down the outside, indicative of the three pits which fit closely together inside. The flesh is juicy, and the flavour is slightly acidic, more like a raspberry than a cherry. The fruit does gives a good flavour to jams and other preserves, or when mixed with other fruits. After it is cooked, it tastes more like a tart apple. The Barbados cherry bears a strong resemblance to the common cherry. It grows on a thick bush that is sometimes used as a hedge in tropical and subtropical climates. Native to the Caribbean, it has become popular as an ornamental in Florida.
Capulin
(Prunus salicifolia -- Family Rosaceae)
Capulin is a true cherry cultivated since early times in the cooler mountainous regions of Central and South America. The dark red fruits contain a pale green, but sweet and juicy, pulp which can be eaten raw or cooked. An unrelated fruit called the Jamaican cherry (Muntingia calabura -- Family Elaeocarpaceae) is also known as Capulin or capuli in Latin America. It is also indigenous to Central and South American tropics, but now widely grown in the Philippines, India, and Malaysia, where it is known as the Japanese or Chinese cherry. Its small red or yellow fruits have a light brown, soft, juicy pulp filled with tiny yellowish seeds that are too small to notice when eating. Its flavour is somewhat like the sweet fig.
Cornelian cherry, cornel, dog cherry, Siberian cherry, Tartar cherry
cornouille (French), Kornelkirsche (German), corniola (Italian), kornel (Danish), kornell (Norwegian/Swedish), kanukka (Finnish), kizilcik (Turkish), seiyo (Japanese)
(Cornus mas -- Family Cornaceae)
The Cornelian cherry is the fruit of one of the small trees or shrubs generally known as dogwoods, whose yellow flowers bloom long before the leaves unfold. The bright red berries can sometimes be as large as small plums, and their flavour is acidic and slightly bitter. The fruit was formerly used in Western Europe to make pies, sauces, confections, as well as being pickled. In Turkey, these fruits are the most appreciated, and used in the making of jams or jelly-type foods. In Russia, this cherry is an important ingredient in their cooking as it is in Asia, where it is used much like a sour cherry, giving dishes a sweet and sour flavour. In France, the cornel is picked like olives or made into preserves.
Chokecherry, pin cherry, bitter cherry, bird cherry, wild cherry, wild red cherry
(Prunus virginiana -- Family Rosaceae)
Chokecherries are the fruits of closely related deciduous shrubs or small trees of the Rose family. Their bark is smooth and tends to peel off in horizontal strips. The bushes vary in height, ranging from fifteen to thirty feet or more, growing in moist woods and clearings or along waterways. They are particularly abundant after a fire. The small cherries are bright red to almost black and fiercely sour and astringent, but there is a considerable difference between the eastern and the western varieties. The western variety (Prunus virginiana var melanocarpa) can be eaten fresh from the tree and do make wonderful jams, jellies, juice, and syrups. Chokecherries are second only to the saskatoon berry in popularity in Western Canada, especially among the native peoples. The leaves and the seeds are poisonous, and some children have died when they ate the seed along with the fruit.
