Cherry juice is a fruit juice consisting of the juice of cherries. It is consumed as a beverage and used as an ingredient in various foods, processed foods and beverages. It is also marketed as a health supplement. It is produced by hot- or cold-pressing cherries, collecting the juice, and then filtering and pasteurizing it.
Usage
As a food
Glasses of Montmorency cherry juice
Cherry juice is a mass-produced food product that is consumed as a beverage and used as an ingredient in various foods, processed foods and beverages.[4] It is sometimes used as an ingredient in cherry ice cream and in cherry pie filling.[5][6] It is also used as an ingredient in cherry brandy and cherry bounce.[7][8] Cherry jelly has also been produced using the juice.[9] Cherry juice concentrate is used by food manufacturers in the production of fruit juice blends.[10] Cherry juice from the Montmorency cherry is used to produce cherry essence, which is used as a flavor concentrate by food manufacturers.[11]
In alcoholic beverages
Kirsch fruit brandy is sometimes produced via the distillation of fermented cherry juice.[12] Cherry juice is also used as an ingredient in beer. For example, Samuel Smith Old Brewery's cherry beer contains 17% of organic cherry juice,[13] and Three Floyds Brewing produces its Battle of Charro II Imperial Brett IPA using cherry juice as an ingredient.[14] Cherry cider has also been brewed by some companies using cherry juice.[15][16] Sweetened cherry juice is sometimes used in the production of kriek lambic, a distinctively sour, cherry beer style from Belgium.[17]
As a dietary supplement
Montmorency cherry juice is produced as a dietary supplement, and is manufactured as a concentrate and in capsules as a freeze-dried powder.[18]
Claims have been made that cherry juice can be helpful for improving sleep for people with insomnia, but there is no good evidence to support these claims.[19]
Commercial production
Large-scale commercial cherry juice production is typically produced using a hot extraction or a cold extraction method.[20]
Hot extraction involves heating the cherries, pressing them, and then straining and filtering to remove solids.[4] Hot pressed cherry juice typically has a deeper coloration compared to that produced using cold extraction.[4] The heating of the fruit also serves to prevent the juice from browning, because the heating stops natural enzymic actions that occur when the fruit is macerated.[21]
Cold extraction involves first removing the pits from fresh cherries and then pressing them and collecting the juice.[20] The juice is then heated to kill microorganisms, stop enzyme activity and to solidify particulate matter prior to filtering.[4] As with hot-extracted juice, the cold-extracted juice is also typically strained and filtered.[4] Cold-extracted cherry juice has a greater likeness to the flavor of fresh cherries, and its coloration is lighter compared to that of hot-extracted juice.[4][22]
Frozen cherries are sometimes used, which enables the creation of a juice that has the cherry-like flavor of cold-extracted juice and a deeper coloration such as that produced by hot extraction.[4]
Ascorbic acid is sometimes added as a color stabilizer prior to the cherries being pressed.[20] The juice is typically filtered and clarified prior to being packaged, and pasteurization or flash pasteurization is typically utilized.[20] It is sometimes processed as a frozen concentrate.[20] Commercial cherry juice concentrate is shipped in bulk containers to food manufacturers and in smaller, consumer-sized containers for retail sales.[10]
In the United States, cherry juice is produced mostly in the state of Wisconsin.[4] More minute amounts are produced in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania and Colorado.[4]
Beverage production
Pure cherry juice has a strong flavor and can have high acidity, so when produced commercially as a beverage product it is sometimes diluted with water to make it more palatable.[4] Sugar syrup or dry sugar is sometimes added to the product when produced as a beverage.[4] Mixtures of both hot-pressed and cold-pressed juices are sometimes used in the production of cherry juice beverages, which allows for a product that has a desirable coloration and flavor for consumers.[4] Cherry juice is also produced as a carbonated beverage product.[4]
In the late 19th century, cherry juice was not produced in the United States, and was imported from Germany.[25] The imported juice was used by wholesale liquor and drug companies, as well as soda producers.[25] Drug companies typically used the juice to produce syrups for soda water, and liquor companies used it to produce cherry brandy, cherry bounce and liqueurs.[25] German-imported cherry juice was fortified with alcohol to prevent the juice from fermenting, which would spoil it.[25][9] During this time, juice produced in Magdeburg, Germany from black cherries grown in the area was typically exported to the U.S.[9]
^National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). "Chapter 4: Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". In Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). pp. 120–121. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN978-0-309-48834-1. PMID30844154. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
Howatson, G.; et al. (December 2012). "Effect of tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep quality". European Journal of Nutrition. 51 (8): 909–16. doi:10.1007/s00394-011-0263-7. PMID22038497. S2CID14785773.
Shahidi, F.; Alasalvar, C. (2016). "Chapter 14: Cherry Juice". Handbook of Functional Beverages and Human Health. Nutraceutical Science and Technology. CRC Press. pp. 175–185. ISBN978-1-4665-9642-9. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
