Cherry facts

Cherry lovers across the nation will be joining forces for the second annual National Cherry Day from FoodLoversBritain.com.

To coincide with the event, which is taking place on 18 July, here are some juicy facts and figures to get your taste buds flowing...

The cherries that are now cultivated are native to Asia Minor.

Cultivated cherries were probably introduced to Britain in the 1st Century AD.

There are more than 1,000 varieties of cherry.

The name prunus avium (the sweet cherry) comes from the Latin for plum and bird, possibly due to birds' love of cherries.

The heartlands of cherry growing in Britain are the South and West England, Kent, Hereford and Worcester, Buckinghamshire, Essex and and Oxfordshire.

British cherries blossom in April and become ripe from early June until late July.

Traditional varieties include: Duke, Hertford, Van, Stella, Sunburst, Summit, Lapins, Colney and Sweetheart.

Cherries were used during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for their medicinal properties.

More recently, a study published in the BMJ in 2005 showed that drinking sour cherry juice could help reduce the symptoms of muscle damage caused by exercise.

100g of cherries contains 11mg of vitamin C, 27% of RDA.

Before the Second World War there were 30-40,000 acres in Britain (Shelia Keating, The Times 15JUL06).

By 2004 it was a little over 960 acres (Vanessa Kendell, BBC online).

The area in south Buckinghamshire under orchard shrank by 39% between 1975 and 1995.

Kent has lost 85% of its orchards in the last 50 years. Most missed are the magnificent 60 foot cherry trees which had their stronghold in north Kent around Faversham. (England-in-particular.info).

The Worcestershire Biodiversity Partnership estimates that the area of the county under orchard has shrunk by 70-85% in the past 40-50 years.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the number of commercial orchards is on the rise.

In the last two years growers have planted 300 acres of new varieties of cherries.

Concern for food miles and preservation of heritage varieties is driving demand.

Outlets such as farm shops and farmers' markets are bypassing the demands of supermarket supply chains.

Less-vulnerable, higher-yielding dwarf varieties have been developed, resulting in trees that grow no more than a few metres tall.

These smaller trees are more accessible, which means that growers can successfully cover them to protect them from the elements.

For more information visit www.foodloversBritain.com