Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
The health berry
|
A favourite metaphor for poets and a nutritious fruit too. Check out the vitamin-rich cherry
|
THE 17th Century madrigalists such as Richard Alison and Robert Herrick often used the metaphor of the flaming red cherry for a woman's lips. It is easy to see why. Firm and red, with a promise of juicy sweetness, no wonder Alison could not help but think of the cherry when he needed a symbol for a woman's lips. In ancient Greece, however, far from being a symbol of sensual delights, the red fruit was a symbol of virginity.
Botanically speaking, the fruit is a close relative of that other great metaphor for all things labial — the rose.
There are two distinct varieties: sweet and sour. Both originated in Asia Minor, on the edges of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and Iran and Turkey still lead the world in cherry production.
With a little help from birds, the fruit came to Greece. After the fall of the Greek empire, the Romans took up large-scale systematic cultivation of the fruit. Every soldier's backpack contained onion, garlic and some fresh cherries and, wherever the Roman legions went, they introduced these crops. Thanks to them, the red fruit was soon growing all over Europe where, centuries later, cherry pie and dessert and cherry brandy became all-year favourites.
Its cultivation in America goes back to the time of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers. Fresh cherries spoil in less than two weeks, but they are more nutritious and contain fewer calories than the longer-lasting canned varieties.
About 100 gm of fresh sweet cherries contains 70 calories; the sour ones hold 10 calories less. The two varieties are nutritionally identical except that the sour cherries contain a lot more Vitamin A precursors.
And, 100 gm of the fresh fruit meets one-fifth of a day's Vitamin C needs.
The red fruit flesh contains significant amounts of the B Vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and small amounts of iron and phosphorous.
It contains little or no sodium. The cherry tree is highly poisonous. Its leaves, seeds and bark are full of cyanide-related chemicals, which is why de-seeded canned fruit are probably safer for children.
Some Native American remedies for cough and cold include cherry bark decoction. But this is hair-raisingly risky and definitely unworthy of emulation. The bark also contains powerful anti-inflammatory properties, but getting around the cyanide is a task that will occupy researchers for years yet.
RAJIV. M
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
