I really like cherries. The other day I got to thinking about cherries and why they crack sometimes after you rinse them. I know that the crack is no a big deal but it looks gross, so I either toss the cherry, or cut off the crack and eat the rest. Yea, I know it’s ridiculous.  Anyway, I decided to look into the cherry cracking matter, here’s what I found.

Basically a cherry has a skin (they call it membrane, but I don’t like that word) that covers the fruit. Evidently, during the late stage of development, there’s an explosive increase in growth, the size of the cherry increases at a rate of one square centimeter (a sixth of a square inch) per day, which is a large rate of growth in relation to the small size of the fruit. Apparently, the insides of the fruit grows really fast but the outside skin remains the same size and is expected to stretch to cover the inside fruit (like a balloon filling with air). When the cherry gets wet, it puts a strain on the skin, and sometimes it cracks. Very interesting, don’t you think?

Since we’re talking cherries, here are a few tidbits you might like.

• Washington State produces more than 50% of all the sweet cherries in the United States. Washington cherry season is June – August
• The Rainier cherry, is yellow with a red blush, was made from a cross between two dark red cherries, the Van and Bing
• Each American eats approximately 2.6 lbs. of cherries per year and there are approximately 53-pitted cherries in one pound of cherries (I have already eaten my quota!).
• One cherry has 5 calories. One cup contains about 90 calories and 3 grams of fiber.
• Cherries are a good source of vitamin C.

Personal lessons from Kelley

• Watch that you don’t eat too many cherries. Remember, they’re high in fiber, which can be dangerous (get where I am going with this?). Trust me.
• Cherry juice stains your fingers and cloths. Just so you know.

Enjoy!