00 The New Complete Book of Food
Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Low-sodium diet (maraschino cherries)Buying This Food
Look for: Plump, firm, brightly colored cherries with glossy skin whose color may range
from pale golden yellow to deep red to almost black, depending on the variety. The stems
should be green and fresh, bending easily and snapping back when released.
Avoid: Sticky cherries (they’ve been damaged and are leaking), red cherries with very pale skin
(they’re not fully ripe), and bruised cherries whose flesh will be discolored under the bruise.Storing This Food
Store cherries in the refrigerator to keep them cold and humid, conserving their nutrient and
flavor. Cherries are highly perishable; use them as quickly as possible.Preparing This Food
Handle cherries with care. When you bruise, peel, or slice a cherry you tear its cell walls,
releasing polyphenoloxidase—an enzyme that converts phenols in the cherry into brown
compounds that darken the fruit. You can slow this reaction (but not stop it completely) by
dipping raw sliced or peeled cherries into an acid solution (lemon juice and water or vinegar
and water) or by mixing them with citrus fruits in a fruit salad. Polyphenoloxidase also
works more slowly in the cold, but storing sliced or peeled cherries in the refrigerator is much
less effective than bathing them in an acid solution.What Happens When You Cook This Food
Depending on the variety, cherries get their color from either red anthocyanin pigments or
yellow to orange to red carotenoids. The anthocyanins dissolve in water, turn redder in acids
and bluish in bases (alkalis). The carotenoids are not affected by heat and do not dissolve in
water, which is why cherries do not lose vitamin A when you cook them. Vitamin C, how-
ever, is vulnerable to heat.How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food
Canning and freezing. Canned and frozen cherries contain less vitamin C and vitamin A than
fresh cherries. Sweetened canned or frozen cherries contain more sugar than fresh cherries.