This week, it’s Cherry Health Benefits from Kat’s Kitchen. I love cherries and they are starting to come into season which is great news. Their deep red colour always makes me smile! I love them on their own or in so many wonderful dishes. A simple dish of oats, yoghurt, cherries with a drizzle of vanilla essence is a great start to the day! Quick, easy and so yummy!
Cherries are native to Europe and West Asia and are named after the ancient Turkish town of Cerasus and date back to at least 300 BC. So, they’ve been around for a while!
There are over 500 varieties with the leader of the pack being the ‘Bing’. This is the large, sweet, round cherry with purple-red flesh and a burgundy skin which is very dark that it almost appears black when the cherry is fully ripe. The Lambert is next in popularity which is a smaller, heart-shaped version of the Bing. (Don’t you just love that name!).
Top tip – generally the darker the colour of the cherry the better it is for you!
Below are some reasons to include cherries in your diet:
Cherry Health Benefits
- Rich in two flavonoids: anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins. These act as antioxidants and have been shown to help deal with pain.
- Cherries can contain melatonin which again is a very powerful antioxidant and the levels are such that they help induce sleep
- Antioxidants in cherries have also been found to inhibit colon cancer with tart cherries contain perillyl alcohol which appears to have a role in reducing all incidences of cancer.
- Cherries have also been found to help with gout. Gout is a type of arthritis associated with a high concentration of uric acid in the blood which can cause inflammation and pain in joints.