When we think of cherries you could be excused for casting your mind to a sugar laden, booze covered, red berry on the end of a cocktail stick, however cherries aren’t all made the same. The Morello Cherry, the cherry we buy by the punnet in the summer and quite often found decorating the top of a fruit cake at christmas, is a much sweeter variety of cherries making them absolutely delicious for us to eat. Because of their high fructose content, they contain much less nutritional value than their more sour brother, in comes the Montmorency cherry, this little sour berry is almost the opposite of it’s sweeter brother. Pop one of these in your mouth and you might not like the taste nearly as much, and they do take a little longer to used to the taste.
The difference between the two lies much deeper than just the taste though, the Montmorency cherry is commonly regarded a superfood of the 21st Century. First founded by the Romans along the black sea, the legionnaires carried the berries with them for sustenance, and introduced them to the rest of the Roman territories. The berries were then planted along the roads, and soldiers used the fruit for food, and the wood for repairing broken weapons and building new ones. Montmorency is now the most popular sour cherry in North America, used for jams and cherry pies.
This little red berry is packed with goodness, studies show that 60ml of Montmorency cherry juice a day can help reduce inflammation, perfect for sports recovery, ease the pain of arthritis and gout, protect against heart disease and certain cancers, reduce the risk of diabetes and insulin resistance syndrome, help maintain healthy sleep patterns, and cognitive brain function, and speed up recovery rates after intense training. What are you waiting for? It literally has something for everyone. Although the taste takes a little getting used to, when drinking the liquid. The benefits from drinking it are well worth it.
For more information regarding the research into Montmorency cherries, check out the The Cherry Report or go to http://www.cherryactive.co.uk for more information about Cherry Juice and capsules
This week, we have decided to celebrate all things cherry! Full of anti-oxidants, there is no end of benefits that can be found in them. Cherries fit into two main categories – sweet and sour. Sweet cherries are not as nutritionally rich as sour cherries, however they are much more palatable and still contain some amounts of fibre and Vitamin C.
Sour cherries have much higher nutritional values and some studies have shown that certain varieties can be really beneficial to our health. They are a good source of Vitamins C, A and Beta Carotene and are also well known for their high levels of anti-oxidants and Anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are known to help reduce inflammation and pain, as well as having many other benefits! Also, there has been an increase in the use of cherries such as Montmorency cherries to help treat Gout, due to it’s ability to help maintain a healthy Uric acid level.
Other benefits of cherries include it’s low fat and sodium levels, and high water and potassium levels – essentially this translates to it being a great fruit to help aid weight loss. Studies show this can help the metabolism and in turn help people to lose weight. Cherries also contain high levels of Melatonin which is a great anti-oxidant for neutralising free-radicals in the body, which can be extremely harmful to us! (The darker the cherry, the higher it is in anti-oxidants)
These are just a few of the benefits of cherries, which shows us exactly why they are considered a Superfood! For more information, look out for our Blog on Montmorency Cherries, being posted on Wednesday 26th September.
http://www.antioxidant-fruits.com/cherry.html