Home Cheerful Cherries Are July Pick of the Month

Cheerful Cherries Are July Pick of the Month

Cherries are ripe in Oregon and they’re delicious! Along with their flavor, they pack a good amount of vitamin C and antioxidants.

Eat them right off the tree, cook them into a sauce, or bake them into a pie. Pick some up today!

What’s so Great About Cherries?

  • They’re a good source of vitamin C, potassium and other nutrients with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
  • They’re good for your heart health and can help with gout and arthritis.
  • Cherries are one of the few fruits with melatonin, an antioxidant linked to sleep regulation.

What’s the Best Way to Eat Cherries?

  • Add cherries to both fruit and vegetable salads.
  • Make into a sweet or savory sauce to enhance a variety of foods – everything from sundaes to salmon.

Selection & Preparation

  1. Selection: Select firm, bright cherries. Look for green stems that are still attached. Avoid soft, shriveled or blemished cherries.
  2. Storage: Refrigerate cherries in a shallow container to allow air circulation and to avoid crushing. For highest quality, fresh cherries should be used within one to two days.
  3. Preparation: Wash cherries with cool water just before using. Pit cherries with a cherry pitter or your hands.
  4. Cooking: No cooking required! Enjoy cherries as-is or preserve them for future use – cherries may be frozen, canned or dried.
Salad with cherries and strawberries

Red Fruit Salad

Recipe from Cheryl Teschner, RD, LD, dietitian at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sweet cherries, pitted.
  • 1 cup raspberries.
  • 2 cups strawberries, sliced.
  • 1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced.

Directions

  1. Wash all fresh produce before cutting. Cut cherries in half to remove pit.
  2. Place all ingredients together in a bowl, stir gently to combine.
  3. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Makes four servings.

Nutritional information per serving:

  • Calories: 60.
  • Fat: 0 g.
  • Carbohydrates: 15 g.
  • Protein: 1 g.
  • Fiber: 3 g.
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