English Name: Cherry
Botanical Name: prunus avium
DESCRIPTION: A small soft round red and black fruit with a stone related to both plums and apricots.
The fruit with a distinctive taste, sweet and fragrants cherries are a mid-summer treat.
ORIGIN: From Middle English Chirie, Cherye “Cherry”. Hence, a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of cherries, or possibly a nickname for someone with rosy cheeks. Probably in some cases a translation name of German Kirsch.
Cherries are native to China they were first grown as a domestic crop in Greece around the time of Christ. Some say the sweet cherry is native to the Black sea. It was cultivated in a town called Cerasus (hence the name Kerasi in Greek or cereza in Spanish or Cherry in English) It was cultivated by the Greeks in Asia, although this fruit was spread across Europe by the Romans, as it was considered a staple to the legionaries diet.
NATURAL BENEFITS: The antioxidant activity of tart cherries was found superior to that of Vitamin E and comparable to commercially antioxidant products sweet cherries contains fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and anthocyanins, which helps in preventing cancer consuming tart cherry increases melatonin levels and improve your sleep.
USES: Cherries are used as fruit juice, jam, pudding, pies etc also used for medicinal purposes.
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