What is Tart Cherry Juice?
Tart cherry juice is a product extracted only from Montgomery cherries. In addition, Montgomery cherries are also used for dried snacks, pie filling, and even ice cream. The reason being is Montgomery cherries have a significantly low sugar content which would not interfere with the product its being used in.
Sweet cherries, as its name implies, have higher sugar content than Montgomery cherries. Due to this these cherries are preferred to eat for snacking. The most common sweet cherry is the bing variety.
Most of the Pacific Northwest contributes to the production of sweet cherries. As for Montgomery Cherries, Michigan is responsible for 70% of the tart cherry industry!
Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice
Gout is a arthritis-like disease that causes significant pain around joints from a buildup of uric acid. Uric acid comes as a final by-product of purine metabolism. Purine is a type of protein that our body makes naturally, but also can be consumed from foods.
Food sources of purine include…
- Fatty fish like tuna, salmon, sardines, and anchovies
- Red meats
- Dairy
- Beer
- Organ meats like liver or sweetbread
- Dark green cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, spinach, and kale
When we have too much uric acid building up in our blood, they accumulate around joints, getting stuck in them and causing inflammation and pain. Drinking 8 ounces of tart cherry juice every day for four weeks seen a significant decrease in uric acid levels and gout symptoms (click here to read more)
Insomnia affects up to 70 million Americans each year and only 33-50% of the adult population experiences symptoms related to it. Tart cherry juice contains approximately 13.5 nanograms per gram of cherries. The dosing recommendation for melatonin supplements to help with sleep are 0.5 to 5.0 milligrams. In addition tart cherry juice contains procyadins which reduces the rate at which tryptophan, a type of protein that helps with sleep, breaks down. It was found drinking 1 cup of tart cherry juice a day significantly improved sleep in adults over 65 years of age compared to the placebo (click here to read more).
In addition to these benefits, tart cherry juice contains 330 milligrams of potassium per 1 cup serving to improve muscle recovery post workout; antioxidants to reduce inflammation of the blood vessels and nervous system, and flavanoids to support healthy white blood cells to fight infection.
Tart Cherry Sparkling Lemonade
https://www.veggieinspired.com/tart-cherry-sparkling-lemonade/
Ingredients
- 1 cup R.W. Knudsen Organic Just Tart Cherry® Juice
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup lime flavored sparkling water
- 2 tablespoons agave, sugar, honey, or sweetener per your preference
- ice
- sugar and lime wedges to garnish optional
Ingredients
- If using the optional sugar garnish: Using a lime wedge, moisten the rim of two glasses. Sprinkle sugar onto a plate and dip the moistened rim of the glass into the sugar.
- Pour the tart cherry juice, lemon juice, lime sparkling water, and agave (if using) in a glass or jar. Mix well.
- Add ice to each glass. Pour half of the sparkling lemonade into each.
- Top off with another splash of sparkling water or a squeeze of fresh lime, if desired.
https://michigangrown.org/cherries/#:~:text=Michigan%20cherry%20facts%3A&text=Michigan%20grows%2070%25%20of%20the,2018%2C%20valued%20at%20%24280.1%20million
https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.339.2
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12119-insomnia#:~:text=How%20common%20is%20insomnia%3F,at%2010%25%20to%2015%25
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5617749/
