Tribute to Cherries

What's your favorite way to enjoy fresh picked cherries?  When I went back home to Michigan last week, I was able to go to the Cherry Festival in Traverse City.  I grew up in West Michigan, but I have never been to the festival before.  I was so excited to go, and I was not disappointed!  Cherry dishes and products were every where.  Northern Michigan prides itself as one of the top cherry producers in the US.  Even though the cherry crop was hit hard with adverse weather conditions earlier this spring, there was still lots of celebrating and cherries to go around.  (Even if they were a lot more expensive than normal.) Cherries have many health benefits and can be used in a variety of dishes.

Food to Farm Buffet

For lunch on Friday, I got to go to the Farm to Fork grand buffet.  We enjoyed the following dishes:

• Fresh fruit salad with dried cherries
• Cherry Romaine mandarin salad
• Wild rice with a cherry concentrate and dried cherries
• Fresh Michigan white fish with a cherry butter sauce garnished with dried cherries
• Roasted pork loin with a cherry brandy sauce
• Cherry lemonade
• Homemade cherry pie

I was happy to see local foods, like Michigan white fish, but I was hoping there would have been more fresh cherries used in the dishes along with other highlighted local ingredients.  I'm guessing the extremely low harvest this year may have limited fresh cherry use.  Incorporating dried or fresh cherries in things like salads, rice/pasta dishes, meat dishes and with vegetables can really add flavor and texture to dishes.  Click here for more healthy cherry recipes.  

Cinnamon Cherry Peanut Butter

When walking around Traverse City, the local shops had cherry food products that you would not have thought of before.  My personal favorite was Naturally Nutty, a northern Michigan nut butter company that has a cinnamon cherry and chocolate cherry peanut butter and white chocolate cherry almond butter.  Amazing flavor, and they also have flax and hemp seeds.  You can order Naturally Nutty on the website if you don't live in northern Michigan.  There were many other food products that looked delicious.  Try adding cherries creatively to your favorite foods.  What can you come up with?
Some other fun products:

Cherry Tortilla Chips

 

Cherry Pasta Sauce

Peach Cherry Salsa

Triple Cherry Granola

 

 

Cherry Wine

 Besides tasting great, cherries offer a wide array of health benefits.

•  Tart cherries are among the highest for antioxidant capacity
• Anti-inflammatory.  
• Reduce risk for cardiovascular disease, lower cholesterol 
• May improve sleep patterns
• May aid in muscle recovery post exercise

Choose Cherries suggests 1-2 servings of cherries per day for health benefits, and a serving can consist of 1/2 c dried, 1 c frozen, 1 c juice or 2 tbsp juice concentrate.

Even though cherries may be harder to find this next year, try to stock up on this power house food.  How will you use cherries in different ways?