A member of the plum family that includes apricots, peaches, and nectarines, cherries are generally lower in vitamins and minerals than their larger cousins. Still, the flavor and low calorie content of the various sweet varieties make cherries an ideal snack or dessert during the relatively short time they are in season. Sour cherries, which are more nutritious than the sweet types, are used mostly for making jams and other preserves or are baked into pies and other pastries.
A cup of pitted sweet cherries contains about 140 calories and has 20mg of vitamin C, or 20% of Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA); it also contributes 500mg of potassium. Canning reduces these nutrients; a cup of canned sweet cherries in light syrup has 6mg of vitamin C and 150mg of potassium. Cherries are a good source of pectin, a soluble fiber that helps control blood cholesterol levels.
Sour cherries which must be cooked and sweetened to make tham palatable, are comparable to the sweet varieties in vitamin C and potassium, but they are much higher in vitamin A; 1 cup in light syrup provides about 20% of the RDA for this nutrient.
Folk healers used to advocate sour cherries to treat gout, as do some alternative practitioners today. People who are allergic to apricots and the other members of the plum family may also suffer a reaction to cherries; the most likely symptoms are hives and tingling or itching sensation in or around the mouth.
Varieties of Cherries
There are over 1,000 varieties of cherries worldwide. The most popular sweet cherries in the United States and Canada are Bing and other dark-colored varieties, ranging from deep maroon to almost black, and Lamberts, which are a bright crimson. Queen Annes are yellow with tinges of red, large, and very sweet. Sour varieties, or pie cherries, are smaller than the sweet types.