Tart cherries have long been overshadowed by their sweeter, more popular cousins. But now, this underappreciated fruit is finally stepping into the spotlight—and deservedly so.
Don’t get us wrong: The regular sweet cherry is pretty great, too: One serving contains 3 grams of fiber and about 10 milligrams of vitamin C, about 13 percent of your daily recommended levels. But the tart variety, formally known as Prunus cerasus L., packs similar numbers—while offering up plenty of unique perks of its own.
In order to reap the benefits, however, you’ll have to know how to eat them. They aren’t called “sour cherries” for nothing—if you don’t prep them right, your lips will pucker. “Drinking tart cherry juice is like drinking unsweetened cranberry juice—it’s not tasty,” says Tara Gidus Collingwood, RD, a dietitian and author of Flat Belly Cookbook for Dummies. “Usually people put a shot of it into a smoothie.”
Gidus Collingwood recommends adding about an ounce of tart cherry juice to a post-workout smoothie, along with a scoop of whey protein and a banana; you can also make sour cherry preserves, toss them in a cherry pie, or try these other tart cherry recipes. You can buy them fresh in the summer or year-round in supplement form or in juices like Cheribundi.
Ready to give them a try? Here are five health benefits of tart cherries that make them well worth the tang.
1. Tart cherries are a nutritional powerhouse
Tart cherries’ bright red color isn’t just for show—the fruit gets its rich hue from its high levels of anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant that can fight free radical damage in the body caused by oxidative stress. According to a 2018 research review in the journal Nutrients, cherries are packed with nutrients like fiber, carotenoids, vitamin C, and potassium, while being relatively low in calorie, at 70 calories per serving
2. Tart cherries can help you fall asleep faster
If you need help nodding off, you aren’t alone: About 1 in 3 adults in the United States get fewer than 7 hours of sleep, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — a habit that could increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and more.
That’s where tart cherries come in. “Some people like to take [tart cherry juice] as a potential sleep aid,” says Gidus Collingworth. The fruit is naturally high in melatonin, a hormone that plays a key role in our sleep-wake cycle and helps us fall asleep. According to a study by researchers from the United Kingdom, people who consumed one ounce of tart cherry juice after waking up and another ounce before going to bed slept better and longer during a 1-week time period than those who didn’t drink tart cherry juice.
3. Tart cherries can help ease post-workout stress
“Tart cherry juice is good for athletes because it’s been shown to help reduce muscle pain after exercise,” says Gidus Collingworth. A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that long-distance runners who drank tart cherry juice in the week leading up to a big race reported less muscle soreness after they’d finished running than those who fueled up with fruit punch. The researchers suspect that the antioxidants in tart cherries can help lower the inflammation produced after a competitive race.
Drinking it after a workout? Don’t worry about nodding off afterward: “It’s not so strong that if you take it after you exercise you’re going to fall asleep,” says Gidus Collingworth. “It just helps calm you down.”
4. Tart cherries might help ease arthritis pain
The beneficial effects of cherries on gout (a common, painful form of arthritis) have been suspected ever since the 1950s. And newer research seems to back up that finding, too: According to the 2018 review in the journal Nutrients, eating both sweet and tart cherries may reduce the amount of arthritis flare-ups in people with the condition, possibly by lowering the levels of inflammation-causing molecules in the body.
5. Tart cherries might help lower your blood pressure
Tart cherries are high in polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that may help lower blood pressure levels, according to a 2016 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers from the United Kingdom found that, after three hours, tart cherry juice lowered systolic blood pressure in men with early hypertension by about 7 mmHG. The CDC estimates that high blood pressure plays a role in causing almost 1,000 deaths in the United States each day.
