Cooking with Dried Cherries – Healthy and Tasty!

Cherries are the ultimate fruit! Aside from the beautiful trees and the enticing red color, not to mention the sweet tangy taste that melts in your mouth, you can do almost anything with cherries: from jam and juice to sundried products! No wonder why many people love this small, exceptional fruit.

But what is more amazing about cherry is the fact that it offers different nutritional benefits. Several studies indicated that cherries can aid in the prevention of arthritis, gout, cardiovascular diseases, diarrhea and even cancer. Surely, there is more to this fruit.

Likewise, dried cherries are also versatile and nutritious. There are lots of recipes you can prepare with dried cherries. And mind you, they are neither just a pleasure of the sight nor of taste, but also a delight of our wellness. Aside from the mentioned health benefits of cherries, dried cherries can also help with the unwanted effects of aging, memory loss, rheumatism, not to mention sleep disorders and jet lag.

Some prefer eating their dried cherries straight from the pack. But isn’t this a little bit dull? Dried cherries which are very tasty and full of nutrients are not meant to be boring. They can be made into different menus. You can turn them into various appetizing meals, different delicious snacks― cakes, pastries, salads, and more! Of course, you can always explore, experiment and come up with your own ideas. For the meantime, here are some of the things you can prepare, cook, and bake using dried cherries while enjoying the nutritive value it gives you.

Salads. Dried cherries are a very good ingredient for salads. Adding dried cherries will increase the nutritive benefits of the salad while also incrementing its flavor. You can try making a blue cheese/dried cherries salad. Like other salad recipes, this is not complicated to prepare. All you have to do is mix Roman lettuce, blue cheese, dried cherries, onion and some walnuts. You can prepare the dressing by mixing Dijon mustard, olive oil, vinegar (white wine vinegar is the advisable kind), and some garlic. You can also try adding apple and gorgonzola. They can complement the tangy taste of the dried cherries.

Sauces. You can also make sauces out of dried cherries. The prefect cherry for this is the dried tart cherry. To prepare, mix your cherries with water, sugar, cornstarch, some vanilla and almond extract. Combined with jasmine rice, you can actually make a very delicious rice pudding.

Meat Stuffing. To make your meat a little exciting, you can stuff it with some fruits like apples and dried cherries. The juicy texture of dried cherries will complement the meat and will control that rather “monotonous” and bland taste that it usually has. And if you are also heading toward a long and busy work, dried cherries can make you energetic without the feeling of being bloated. Procedures are easy to follow and are available in different cook books and recipe websites.

Desserts. Dried cherries are well-known for their versatility in different dessert menus. There are lots of things you can do out of dried cherries: pudding, sweet cookies, pies, brie, and more! One is making a dried cherry cake. Again, procedures are not difficult. Just mix some cherries, almond extract and hot water. After 20 minutes, drain the cherries. And then, combine flour, baking powder, salt and a cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add some yogurt, oil and eggs. Stir and then add the cherries. Mix some pecans and one tablespoon of sugar. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the batter in the cake pan. Bake it for 35 minutes under 175 degrees Celsius, and voila, you have your dried cherry cake to serve your loved ones.