Cherry

Cherry

Tart Chery, or Prunus cerasus, is a small deciduous tree native to Asia Minor that produces a ruby-red stone fruit that’s color and tangy taste won it a place on tables of Roman conquerors, Greek citizens and Chinese noblemen. More recently tart cherries have found themselves in the health food conversation for their post-exercise recovery benefits.

History

People around the world have been eating wild cherries since prehistoric times, according to the findings of archeologist excavating sites, but it was not until three thousand years ago that people began domesticating the tree in Asia Minor.

The roman general Lucullus is often credited with spreading the domesticated tart cherry throughout Europe after discovering it growing along the Black Sea coast; however, Theophratus, an early botanist and protégé of Aristotle, mentions them in his “History of Plants” almost three hundred years before Lucullus’ time.

Tart Cherries were brought to America by French colonists and became staples in the gardens of cities like Detroit, Vincennes, and other midwestern settlements. In 1893 the first American commercial tart cherry orchard was planted on Ridgewood Farm in Michigan, and today Michigan still produces over 70% of the tart cherries in the United States.

Harvest

Cherry trees prefer moist, well-draining, fertile soil, and need at least 8 hours of full sun for maximum production. When the fruit is ready, it will be firm and dully colored and will easily come off the stem. A mature, standard cherry tree can generate thirty to fifty quarts of cherries.

Anatomy

Even though it may look like a berry, tart cherries are actual stone fruit related to plums and peaches. They grow on deciduous trees that can grow up to twenty feet, have smooth gray bark, and that become covered in whitish-pink flowers in spring.

Etymology

Cherries get their name from the Greek word Cerasus which come from the town Kerasus where it was first discovered growing in north Anatolia.