A friend invited us to come over and pick some super juicy tart cherries today. And I just made the most delicious cherry smoothies tonight. (2 cups pitted pie cherries, 4 dates, 2 tablespoons coconut butter, blend, then add a handful of ice cubes, blend again. - serves 2) It was so yummy, the ultimate "cherry pie" smoothie.

So I remember in the past reading benefits of tart cherry juice, and when I googled it again tonight I came across pages and pages linking tart cherry juice to be an effective anti-inflammatory for arthritis. It also acts as a natural pain reliver.

"In a study of twenty women ages 40 to 70 with inflammatory osteoarthritis, the researchers found that drinking tart cherry juice twice daily for three weeks led to significant reductions in important inflammation markers – especially for women who had the highest inflammation levels at the start of the study" http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/06/02/r...nt-of-any-food/

Dr. Oz calls it the ultimate antioxidant: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/amazing-antioxidants-tart-cherry-juice

"Antioxidants like quercetin that tart cherry juice contains have similar effects to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, like aspirin and ibuprofen. However, it's the anthocyanins in tart cherry juice may hold special significance for treating the symptoms of arthritis. Arthritic inflammation is caused by an overproduction of enzymes in your body known as Cox-1 and Cox-2. Anthocyanins prevent excess levels of the enzymes, without causing the same stomach upset that NSAIDs do".Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/461479-tart-cherry-juice-for-arthritis/#ixzz21Q47pusf


It is cherry picking season here in the NW right now! I am taking the day off work tomrorow to go pick cherries (all varities, including Bing & Rainer) all day with my husband. We are also going to pick raspberries tomorrow too. Every year we usually pick around 70 pounds of cherries for around $1.25/pound and then pit them with our little cherry pitter and freeze them for smoothies year round. So much cheaper than buying them off season.

Last year we picked an additional 100 pounds to make cherry wine with our friends - looking forward to uncorking that in two weeks!

Here is a photo of the cherries we picked today!


Cheers to Cherries!!!
-Andrea

Wow, pretty cherries, Andrea! We got one good batch of dark cherries from WA here on the east coast, and then since then they haven't been good, unfortunately. We never even get to see the sour cherries. I guess they don't do well with traveling. I was wondering if you pitted the cherries by hand!!! I was going to ask you if there was a method to it.

My body's been letting me eat a lot of grapes, though, fortunatley.

A picture of the cherry smoothie would be appreciated!