Cherry Season has arrived!

Cherry season is here. Fresh picked cherries are now available at our fruit stand. This year's crop looks good. The fruit size is good, the cherries taste great, and we'll have fresh picked cherries available into June.

Nothing beats the taste of fresh fruit picked right from the tree. It's sweeter, crisper, more aromatic and more delicious than fruit that has been stored. Over the years, people driving over to our orchard and asked if they could buy a box or two of our freshly picked fruit. These people came back year after year becoming our first regular customers.

Locally grown

Family owned and operated fruit stand celebrating 43 years in business. In addition to being pleasurably sweet, another great thing about cherries is they're one of our few remaining seasonal fruits. Because they're locally grown, our cherries are meltingly tender and juicy. Tree-ripened is a key cherry word. That's why the closer you are to a tree with ripe cherries the greater the pleasure at hand. Fortunately, Papathanasis Fruit Stand fetches cherries from just a few feet away and hustles them to you.

Health Benefits

A carbohydrate dense food, cherries are an excellent source of vitamin C (per serving they provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value) and are high in Lutein and Zeaxanthin, the two compounds that protect vision. They contain vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin K and many minerals. One cup of pitted sweet cherries contains 91 calories, 1.5 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber and 0.3 grams fat.

The fruit contains several phytonutrients that research suggests may help fight cancer. One such compound, perillyl alcohol, binds to protein molecules to inhibit cancer's growth signals.

Also found in cherries are anthocyanins, a class of compounds that act as potent antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds and pain relievers. This makes cherries an excellent anti-gout remedy [once sour cherry entry is posted, add a link here to reference more gout detail in sour cherry entry].

Unlike most fruits which are cooling, sweet cherries are a warming food that increases vital energy. According to traditional Chinese medicine, cherries tone the spleen-pancreas, liver, and kidney functions. Cherries remove excess body acids and blood stagnation and, when eaten regularly, are therefore therapeutic for gout, paralysis, numbness in the extremities, and rheumatic pain in the lower half of the body.