Soon, the sweltering heat will prevail, and tropical nights will become the main culprit for making people sleep at night. Fatigue due to lack of sleep and intense sunlight will accelerate skin aging. There is one fruit that makes us prettier in the sweltering heat like this: cherries.
Cherries, one of the oldest fruits cultivated by mankind since the Neolithic Age, are attractive enough to be called the ‘queen of summer fruits’. In Roman times, there is a record that cherries were used as medicine, so it is a food with useful value beyond fruit.
Cherries, which are loved more on summer tables thanks to their sweet and sour taste, beautiful color, and name, are good to eat as they are, but they also go well with dairy products such as milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, and yogurt. Putting it in drinks, etc. is a way to enjoy it in various ways.
The plump and luscious red cherries contain a lot of health-promoting ingredients as well as their pretty appearance.
Anthocyanin and quercetin, which give the cherry red color, are powerful antioxidants that prevent cell damage and inhibit the growth of waste products, which is effective in preventing aging and cancer. It is also rich in vitamins C and E, helping to make the skin shiny and elastic. One study found that people who ate a plate of cherries every morning had a 25% reduction in key inflammatory markers.
Darker cherries contain more anthocyanins as well as melatonin content. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the brain that regulates circadian rhythms and induces sleep, helping to alleviate insomnia. Cherries are also known as excellent sources of potassium.
Potassium in the body plays an important role in regulating blood pressure because it transmits nerve impulses from the cell membrane and releases sodium. Therefore, adding cherries to your diet may reduce your risk of high blood pressure and stroke. Cherries can be actively recommended as a good food to enhance the diet effect. This is because the relatively low caloric content of 60Kcal per 100g and the abundant water content help to maintain a feeling of satiety.
In addition to the useful actions mentioned above, it contains various useful ingredients for health promotion, such as diabetes prevention, fatigue, concentration enhancement, and stress relief. However, any food is not fundamentally a cure, so excessive intake can have the opposite effect, so you have to be on the lookout for it.
In the case of cherries, because of high acidity and high fiber content, if consumed in large amounts at once, it may cause heartburn symptoms, gas in the intestines, abdominal cramps, bloating, etc. The recommended daily amount for adults is 10 to 15. If you eat 10 cherries a day, you can meet the recommended daily amount of 12 mg of anthocyanins.
Lastly, it is useful to know how to choose cherries to enjoy delicious cherries. You can enjoy fresh and delicious cherries if you choose ones that have a green stem and a hard, plump, glossy pulp. After eating the leftover cherries, wash them thoroughly and completely dry them, put them in a plastic bag or container, seal them, and put them in the freezer to keep them for up to 12 months.
If you defrost it for 30 minutes before eating, you can feel the original taste as it is, and if you dip it in chocolate, you can taste a special cherry. The season to taste the sweet and sour taste of domestic cherries has returned. There is only one month of the year when you can taste the most delicious domestic cherries. As the harvest season approaches in June, the hands of farmers will be even busier.
At a time like this, how about we busily move the steps to welcome the precious cherry? We met the Queen of Fruits, so it can be a little fun to be a prince and a princess because of that preciousness… Don’t forget that meeting healthy food is what makes our lives the most free. Eat cherries and become prettier.
Yujin Noh Food Storyteller