A bowl full of cherries

July 6, 2008

“That last cherry soothes a roughness of my palate.” - Robert Browning

“Don’t give cherries to pigs or advice to fools.” - Irish saying

Visitors and Northern Michigan locals alike flock to Traverse City - the “Cherry Capital of the World” - for the National Cherry Festival each year, with another festival already upon us, ready to pay homage to those 35,000 acres of cherry trees growing in the TC region.
Acclaimed for tart cherry production, the Traverse Bay region grows around 250 million pounds of cherries in a good harvest year, with those cherries lending themselves to a remarkable range of cherry foodstuffs - preserves, bagels, salsa, juice, vinaigrette, cheesecake, ice cream, lemonade - and other cherry products. But why cherries? What makes this small fruit popular enough to arrange an entire festival around it?

SURPRISINGLY HEALTHY
In addition to the fact that Americans generally like any excuse to have fun, cherries are one of the oldest cultivated fruits (dating back to 300 B.C.), and boast vitamin C, plenty of fruit energy, and a miniscule amount of fat, making them a great summertime snack. They’re also a great source of vitamins A and E, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber; and they’re one of the few known food sources of melatonin, an antioxidant that helps regulate our sleep patterns (try eating dried cherries one hour before going to sleep - they’re also a great assist to recover from jet lag).
Tart cherries, in particular, contain anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant which both makes the cherries their bright red color and adds anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. All of this is said to make cherries helpful in the treatment of arthritis, diabetes, weight management, and brain health, and may reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. That’s a lot of nutrition for one tiny fruit.
Their relatively easy growability and long growing season means they can grow in most places (provided hail and rain don’t do too much damage) including very cold locales, although their peak in Northern Michigan is generally in June. Their flowers - pink or white, small but plentiful in blossom - are also renowned; in Japan and Washington DC, especially, the blooming of the cherry trees is of great note.

FAMILY TREE
The cherry - a fruit with a single stony seed - actually belongs to the same family as peaches, plums, apricots, and almonds. Two species of cherry are native to America, several more to Asia, and three to Europe.
The word “cherry” is derived from the French word “cerise,” which in turn originates from the Assyrian “karsu” and Greek “kerasos.” Their red color - the color of blood and battle - may be why cherries often held a place of honor on ancient tables, big bowls of them piled up in Greek, Egyptian, and Roman households, where the cherry was appreciated for both its fruit and flowers.
An early botanist (and one of Aristotle’s proteges), Theophrastus, mentions the cherry tree in his third century B.C. book, “History of Plants,” where he infers that the Greeks have been growing cherries for centuries. Later brought to Italy from Persia, the fruit was even served at feasts held by Roman conquerors.
America was introduced to the fruit in the 1600s, when it was brought to our shores by ship. Of course, the old legend of George Washington and the cherry tree has been debunked; but another of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, did grow cherries on his plantation at Monticello - as did writer Henry David Thoreau, on his family’s farm in Massachusetts.
The fruit arrived in Michigan when French colonists carried pits with them that they planted along the Saint Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes; cherry trees were a necessary part of the gardens of French settlers as they founded such Midwestern cities as Detroit. Further up north, Presbyterian missionary Peter Dougherty planted cherries on the Old Mission Peninsula in the mid 1800s - and as evidenced today, the cherry trees grew and multiplied.

SWEET ‘N SOUR
Did you know that most tart or sour cherries for the entire U.S. are grown around the Great Lakes? Michigan is considered the biggest tart cherry producer in the country.
The Montmorency is the primary variety of tart cherry grown in Michigan; an excellent fruit for preserves, cherry juice, and baking. The Balaton is another American variety of tart cherry, and was developed at MSU; its crops are in limited production.
Cherries also can be found in New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; and sweet cherries such as Bings, Rainiers, Lamberts, and Kings are grown in California, Oregon, and Washington, making up 95 percent of cherry production in the Northwest, while Michigan grows about 75 percent of the U.S. tart cherry crop.
The first commercial tart cherry orchards in Michigan were planted back in 1893, right near where missionary Dougherty initially planted his trees. By the early 1900s, the cherry industry was well underway in Michigan, with cherry orchards from Traverse City all the way down the shoreline to Benton Harbor. The first cherry processing facility was built near Traverse City, as well; the Traverse City Canning Company got its start shipping its fruits to Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago.
And how about those Maraschino cherries, the ones used in Shirley Temple drinks and to top the perfect banana split? Those are made from sweet cherries, most often a domestically-grown cherry called the Royal Anne. The Maraschino cherry actually originated in northern Italy and Yugoslavia, but by 1920, the American version of the Maraschino became so popular it replaced the foreign import variety in the U.S.
Sweet cherries are grown in Michigan, too - but are more likely to be consumed in their natural, fresh-picked state. And perhaps that’s the best way to enjoy this historically-rich fruit after all.