On Food and Cooking

once they’re harvested, so they must be
picked ripe and fragile. Most sweet cherries
grown in the United States are sold fresh, but
far more sour cherries are grown, and most of
these are processed. Cherries are prized not
only for their flavor, but for their color, which
may range from very deep red (rich in
anthocyanins) to a pale yellow. The red
varieties are an excellent source of phenolic
antioxidants.
Cherry flavor comes mainly from almondy
benzaldehyde, a flowery terpene (linalool),
and essence of clove (eugenol). Heating
increases both the almond and flowery notes,
especially if the pits are left in the fruit. This
is why the classic French cherry clafoutis, a
custardy tart, is intensely flavored but
requires care in eating!
The familiar “maraschino” cherry
originated several centuries ago in
northeastern Italy and the neighboring
Balkans, where the local marasca cherry was