National Cherry Turnover Day

Five Food Finds about Cherries

• The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit.

• The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium.

• The name ‘cherry’, often as the compound term ‘cherry tree’, may also be applied to many other members of the genus Prunus, or to all members of the genus as a collective term.

• The fruits of many of these are not cherries, and have other common names, including plum, apricot, peach, and others.

• The name ‘cherry’ is also frequently used in reference to cherry blossom.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’

1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.

1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.

1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.

1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.

2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.