History of cherries
The cherry is the fruit of the cherry tree, which is the result of several and repeated hybridizations of the same botanical species. Very curious is the origin of the name, also for other languages like Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. The name cherry is in fact a Greek name for the city of Cerasunto, or Giresun, in Pontus, “now in Turkey”. This city was the original exporter for the Ancient Rome. According to the sources, for the first time the cherry plants were imported in Rome from this city in 72 BC by Lucio Licinio Lucullo, Pliny the Elder wrote.
In the famous (for the racetrack) Italian city of Monza, San Gerardo dei Tintori is the saint protector of the cherries, and his Saint’day is celebrated on 6 June.
The plant
The evolution of the actual plant is the result of two main different botanical species of cherries, which are market today, that one sweet and that one sour. The “Prunus cerasus”, the sour one, produces sour black cherries and morello cherries. The other tree is defined just sweet cherry, as the fruits.
The sweet cherry are spherical (0.7-2 centimeters in diameter) or slightly elongated sphere. Depending of the variety, we have different variation of red for the color, but there is also the light yellow for the Piedmontese Graffione Bianco, or the black red for Vignola’s Durone nera.
Not only the color, but also the pulp can change depending, bot in consistency that in color, with soft and crispy structure.
The fruits ripen in spring-summer time, and contains only one very hard wood-colored seed that all people knows.
The harvest
The cherry harvest begin in the middle of May until the first week of July. Generally the harvest is made in June, to be ready for the San Giovanni festival on June 24th. The festival shows the early and medium-ripened cherries, in which often are found small white larvae, common in those fruits. Because the name of the festival, the larvae are called “giovannini” (that means “small John”). But a lot of varieties are ripened later, like the San Giacomo, called with this name because they are ready for the 25th July. This is the Saint James the Greater’s day (Saint James), particularly in southern Italy, in the areas of Marzano Appio and Caianello, very well-known for those fruits.
The trade and the uses
On the markets are generally sold two categories of cherries. The category has the peduncle, and the variety must be declared while the other category can be put on the market with small defects in form and color.
The cherry trees are very famous for the color and quantity of the flowers in the spring-time, and often painted by the artists. The tree is very large and has a lot of fruits, but they are not easy to collect, increasing the costs on the market. In Italy, to save money, some farmer arranges the “sale on the tree”, that means the fruits are sold not harvested, and customers have to collect them from the tree. That save the cost of harvesting for the farmer and the customer, who pay a very cheap price.
Cherry is a very tasty fruit, used both fresh that in the industry of catering and food. Plenty of vitamins, it can be eaten fresh of in fruit salad, ice creams, puddings, creamy dessert or jams. The cherries are perfect to prepare desserts or for the filling of tarts, as small snacks but also for game dishes.
They are also made in alcoholic syrups, with Maraschino for example, or to make some cherry brandy and liquor, to prepare cocktails and garnish for alcoholic drinks.
When they are fresh, must be stored in a cool and dry place, in paper bags to preserve better, because the fruits easily absorbs odors. Moreover the cherries can be frozen to be cooked later.
A healthy food
The cherries are a healthy food because their content anthocyanins, that, according to several studies of Michigan State University, inhibit the cyclooxygenase, the enzymes responsible for inflammatory processes and pain. It can be used instead of aspirin or ibuprofen, and the cherry is also a good antioxidant, with benefit against the colon cancer and the gout. Be careful anyway to stone, because it contains hydrogen cyanide.
The cherry is composed of:
- Water: 77-87%
- Sugars: 11-22.5%
- Fat: 0.1%
- 0.7% protein
- Vitamin A
- C vitamin
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
