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A Bowl of Cherries

© Audrey Stallsmith

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious. . .
So keep repeating it's the berries. . .
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you've never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.
Lyrics by Lew Brown

If life were always as sweetly succulent as a bowl of cherries, we would probably hear considerably fewer complaints about it! I am a fruit fanatic and cherries are my favorite. The briefness of the season during which the fresh red drupes are affordable probably adds to their desirability.

Some believe cherry to derive from "karaza", a Sanskrit term loosely translated as "What juice; what flavor!" Others contend the fruit was name after Cerasus, a town in Turkey, while yet another faction holds that it springs from the Greek "kerasos" or "horn." The latter would seem unlikely except that Gerard, in his Herball, refers to certain cherries as being "of the colour of Jet, or burnished horne."

The cherry is supposed to have originated in the Orient and gradually spread west, perhaps with the help of seed-dropping birds. A blossoming branch of this particular fruit tree is the quintessential symbol of spring in Japan. The cherry spoke of destiny, not only to the Samurai who embellished their swords with its image, but also to "happy couples" who pledged their troths with tea brewed from its blossoms.

White cherry blossoms stand for "deception" in the Language of Flowers, perhaps a reference to George Washington's legendary refusal to lie! The tree itself stands, somewhat mysteriously, for "good education."

This fruit was brought to America in the 1600's. Prunus avium--the sweet or "bird's" cherry-grows mainly on the west coast, while prunus cerasus-the sour type-is most extensively cultivated in Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin. The wild prunus virginiana or chokecherry is also popular for jellies. I'm not sure whether its common name refers to the fact that its excessively sour fruits will make you gasp or to the possibility that wilted leaves from its fallen branches can kill unwary livestock who forage on them. Almost all cherries contain a certain amount of hydrocyanic acid (cyanide) in their leaves, bark, and seeds, as is indicated by that bark's "bitter almond" scent. Prunus serotina (wild black cherry) is the most dangerous. So, although the inner bark of serotina has been used in cold remedies and as an antidote to food poisoning, I would let the experts handle the making of those medications!