Cherry-o!

With only one letter separating "cherry" from "cheery," their likeness has long been used to brighten kitchen wallpaper, curtains and dinnerware. And, now, because cherries are readily available in one form or another all year long, they're putting in an appearance everywhere.

From the fire-engine red, tart Montomorency variety to the dark, sweet, almost winey-tasting Bing, cherries pop up in Eastern European appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes, sauces and, of course, desserts.

Eastern European Cherry Recipes

Michigan Takes the Cherry

The U.S.

grows more than 650 million pounds of cherries each year with Michigan producing 75% of the nation's tart cherry crop. Traverse City, Mich., has been dubbed the Cherry Capital of the World. Oregon and Washington harvest about 60% of the sweet cherry crop. Other states with commercial cherry crops are Utah, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania and California.

Popular forms of tart cherries include juice, dried and frozen. Sweet cherries are primarily sold fresh for eating out of hand, frozen and canned.

The History of Cherries

Cherries go back to ancient Rome, Greece and China where their color and taste guaranteed them a place of honor at table. Cherries were introduced to America by early settlers who brought them by ship in the 1600s.

Later, according to the Cherry Marketing Institute, French colonists from Normandy brought pits that they planted along the Saint Lawrence River and on down into the Great Lakes area. Cherry trees were part of the gardens of French settlers as they established such cities as Detroit, Vincennes, and other Midwestern settlements.

Tart Cherries

The Traverse City, Mich., area proved to be ideal for growing tart cherries because Lake Michigan tempers Arctic winds in winter and cools the orchards in summer. By the early 1900s, the tart cherry industry was firmly established in the state with orchards all along Lake Michigan from Benton Harbor to Elk Rapids. The Montmorency is the primary variety of tart cherry and it is excellent for pies, preserves and juice.

Sweet Cherries

The Northwestern part of the United States became well known for its sweet cherries with orchards coming into production during the 1870s and 80s. The most famous sweet cherry variety is the Bing cherry, which got its name from one of the Chinese workmen on these early orchards. Another sweet cherry variety is the Lambert. The Rainier cherry, a light sweet variety, is the result of cross-breeding the Bing and Van varieties. The Bing, Lambert and Rainier varieties together account for more than 95 percent of the Northwest sweet cherry production.

Maraschino Cherries

According to the Cherry Marketing Institute, maraschino cherries, the kind most often used in drinks and on ice cream sundaes, are made from sweet cherries.

"The maraschino cherry originated in Yugoslavia and northern Italy where merchants added a liqueur to a local cherry called the 'Marasca.' This cherry product was imported to the United States in the 1890s to be used in the country's finest restaurants and hotels. In 1896, U.S. cherry processors began experimenting, using a domestic sweet cherry called the Royal Anne. Less liqueur was used in processing and almond oil was substituted for some of the liqueur. Finally, the liqueur was eliminated altogether. By 1920, the American maraschino cherry was so popular that it had replaced the foreign variety in the United States."

Amazing Cherry Facts

• There are about 7,000 cherries on an average tart cherry tree, and it takes about 250 cherries to make a cherry pie. So, conceivably, each tree can produce enough cherries for 28 pies.
  
  
• Cherries, especially the tart varieties, contain antioxidants that might help fight cancer and heart disease, according to research at Michigan State University.
  
  
• It takes six to eight pounds of fresh tart cherries to make just one pound of dried cherries.
  
  
• Maraschino cherries are sweet cherries that have been processed and packed in sweetened juice. They come in bright red, green and custom colors.
  
  
• Glacé cherries are candied cherries also available in red and green, and used in fruit cakes, bread and cookies.
  
  
• Cherry pie filling is the number one canned pie filling seller in supermarkets.

Source:The Cherry Marketing Institute, Lansing, Mich.