Cherries Vs. Blueberries

Blueberries are native to North America and cherries are native to Europe. Cherries are stone fruits, known as drupes, and related to plums, peaches and nectarines. Blueberries are related to cranberries and bilberries. While cherries and blueberries both have distinctive coloration, blueberries are one of the few natural foods that are blue.

Description

• Cherries are a small, soft and round fruit ranging in color from red to nearly black, and need to be picked when ripe. By contrast, deep-blue blueberries contain no stones and continue to ripen after they're picked. While there are two main types of cherry -- sweet varieties are higher in calories and lower in vitamin C and beta carotene than sour -- there is only one main type of blueberry.

History

• The Romans introduced cherries to Britain in the first century A.D., but it wasn't until the 17th century that English colonists brought them to North America. By this time blueberries were already abundant on the American continent, having been used for centuries by Native Americans to treat illness.

Nutrition

• Although both fruits are rich in antioxidants, blueberries contain more than cherries. Blueberries and cherries are good sources of vitamin C but, according to bellybytes.com, cherries contain 19 times more beta carotene than blueberries. Cherries are also a preferable source of vitamin A, manganese, iron and calcium.

Production

• According to orchardofhealth.com, most cherries grown in the United States come from four states, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah, which are responsible for producing 150,000 tons of cherries every year. Maine is the United States' blueberry production capital, producing the majority the berries harvested in the country. If spread out in a single layer, the annual American harvest of blueberries would cover a four-lane highway New York to Chicago, says 2020site.org.