4 Health Benefits of Eating Cherries at Work

When I think of cherries, I usually think of Bings (the dark red ones) and Rainiers (yellow with a red blush). But in truth, there’s a whole world of cherry varieties to choose from. Our farm partners grow the Arvin Glen, Black Pearl, Lapin, Royal Hazel, Royal Tioga, Sequoia®, and more.

There isn’t exactly a rainbow of cherries available, but they come in more shades than just “red.” A lot of sweet cherries have the dark burgundy color that we’re used to with Bings. Some, like the Coral Champagne cherry, are a lighter fire-engine color.

4 Health Benefits that Make Cherries Even Sweeter

But cherries don’t just look and taste great—they also have a lot of health benefits that make them perfect for office snack boxes and supporting workplace wellness. Tart cherries (aka sour cherries) are particularly healthy, though we don’t usually add them to our mixes because of their sour flavor.

Here are some of the top health benefits of cherries:

1. Better Sleep – Cherries contain melatonin and tryptophan, which help us sleep; some people even claim eating tart cherries (or drinking cherry juice) can fight jet lag
2. Muscle Recovery – Tart cherries and tart cherry juice may help ease sore muscles by reducing inflammation
3. Healthier Blood Pressure – The potassium and lack of sodium in cherries might help reduce blood pressure (scientists are still investigating this)
4. Happier Cells – Cherries are full of antioxidants (including anthocyanins and vitamins C and B-6) that help protect our cells

It’s California cherry season right now, and they’ve already made an appearance in our Western fruit mixes. However, we don’t expect them to stay around for long. The California season is short, and we’ve heard from growers that it wasn’t very strong this year (maybe because of last July’s heat wave). We’ll have cherries in our Central mixes sometime in June, and expect Black Pearl cherries in our Eastern mixes the third week of the month.

Cherry Snack Ideas for Work and Home

If you’re looking for cherry snack ideas, try pitting them and adding them to yogurt or making a summer fruit salad with peaches, nectarines, and blueberries. To hold onto your cherries after the season ends, you can always can or freeze them—and of course, they’re great for jams. Have you ever pickled cherries? I haven’t, and to be honest, I don’t usually pickle fruit, but this season I’m going to give it a try.

If you want to experience the health benefits of cherries yourself, try our Harvest Mix for your office. It’s the best way to get a wide variety of seasonal fruit year-round, including cherries when they’re in peak season.