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~~~ ONLINE ORDERING ~~~

For pre-order and pre-pay  "Grab and Go"

Click on shop if you already have an account

 on the new site and are ready to pre-order.

Link to the new website for signing up  

to create an account.

Email us at  twinspringsfruitfarm@gmail.com or call 717-334-4582, if you have some concern that needs to be addressed person to person. You may get the answering machine, but an actual human will call you back ASAP.

~~~We have two periods for taking orders~~~

1. Ordering for the weekday markets opens up at 1:00 PM on Monday.

Ordering becomes unavailable on Tuesday at 1:00 PM, for Wednesday markets, and subsequently on Wednesday, at noon, for Thursday markets.

2. As of Wednesday at 5:30 PM we open up the Website for taking orders for all of the current weekend markets.

We do this by taking down weekday markets as pick-up locations, and show only weekend locations as active pick-up sites.

At 1:00 P.M. on Friday we will remove the Saturday market locations as active pick-up locations, and only the current Sunday sites will remain. These will shut down for pre-ordering at 1:00 PM on Saturday.



~~~ Market locations ~~~

~Magness Pears ~

From Trees of Antiquity*:

The Magness pear is a soft, juicy dessert pear almost free of grit cells. Introduced by the USDA in the 1960's, it was named in honor of Dr. John R. Magness, long-time director of the USDA's apple and pear breeding program. Its parents are Comice pear and Seckel pear, not a bad pairing. 

The Magness pear tree produces medium to large slightly russeted fruit, buttery, rich flesh with honeyed juice, ruddy yellow when ripe, with a highly perfumed flesh of the very best quality. Insect damage seems to be reduced in this variety due to thicker fruit skin. Magness pear is very disease resistant, especially fire blight. Sterile pollen so it needs a pollinizer.

*Magness is a great pear, but by no means is it an heirloom pear, though its forebears certainly are.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Orange Pippin Fruit Trees:

Magness is a high quality late-season eating pear, developed by the USDA in the mid 20th century. It is a cross between Doyenne du Comice - generally considered the best-flavored of all dessert pears - and the well-regarded American pear, Seckel. As you might expect given that parentage, the flavor is very good, with the buttery melting flesh which is characteristic of the best European pears.

The pears should ripen about 3 weeks after Bartlett - which in most areas will be late September or early October. They should be picked before fully ripe, and then ripened indoors. They can also be stored in a cool place (or a fridge) for several months.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Mehrabyran Nursery:

Magness originated in Beltsville*, Maryland, by the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture. Introduced for trial in 1960 and released in 1968 by Howard J. Brooks. It is a cross between a Seckel seedling and Comice. It tested as US 3866-E and was named in honor of John R. Magness, who was leading the fruit and nut crops section at Agricultural Research Center, in Beltsville, Maryland.

*Right down by you guys, at least most of you!

The fruit has good quality and medium size, with soft flesh and it is very juicy and aromatic. The fruit ripens a week later than Bartlett. It has good storage quality and can be held in cold storage up to 3 months, with storage its quality improves. The tree begins bearing at about 6 years and early fruiting is happening mainly on medium long terminals. It is entirely pollen-sterile, and it does not produce good pollen and should not be used as a pollinizer. The tree has good resistance to fire blight. It can grow in USDA hardiness zones 5-9.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carrots Today

Dan Banan got these shots of yet more carrots being gathered this morning. This is the crop intended to take us through the winter.

At this time all five colors are available, mixed,

in 2 pound bags.

All but the white will be offered in 1 pound bags.



All that greenery between the truck and the foreground are carrots to be dug soon. A big harvest of what has become an essential crop for Twin Springs, and hopefully for our customers also.

Gonna take some cleanin' up.

Can you tell we got some rain?

Above, I thought these were all purple carrots until I studied the following photos and realized almost the opposite must be true; I think that they are all yellow.

Below, later in the day, Arturo took the six photos

that follow, of the washing process.

After a good time spent in one of the carrot washers they should come out looking like the above.

After which they are closed up in a fresh bag and placed in an apple bin, to then be moved into a cold storage room that is as free of ethylene gas as we can get it.

As you may have experienced last Spring when we ran out in June of all but orange carrots, the 2022 crop kept perfectly; they were crisp and sweet to the end.



Triticale as a cover crop

Above is a field as of this morning from which potatoes were recently harvested. It is already growing

a nice stand of Triticale.

Triticale is a hybrid of wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale) first bred in laboratories during the late 19th century in Scotland and Germany.

The biomass production of winter triticale is higher than winter wheat and barley, which is beneficial for higher forage potential, weed suppression, or as a green manure.



We and many other farmers, and not just fruit farmers, use triticale as a cover crop. We have often used 'annual rye' but the triticale is supposed to be a bit better in many respects.

Triticale has a large canopy cover that helps it intercept more sunlight, and it has strong and profuse roots that enable better soil anchorage, produce more biomass and 'opens up the soil' to allow water to be absorbed, rather than runoff and cause a host of problems downstream.



As you've perhaps seen us do with the Caliente, a mustard cover crop, the triticale is being mowed off and we are plowing it into the soil right behind.

With Caliente it is done to get the decomposing mustard plants to give off their nematode killing gas (ITC) down into the soil to maximize its potential as a fully organic biofumigant.



Rye has been popular among cover crop growers because of its weed-smothering capacity and high carbon residue. In this regard, triticale, as a rye progeny, can be a viable alternative as a cover crop. Triticale is among the best overwintering species that help reduce soil erosion and capture residual nitrogen, which in turn increases annual crop yield and quality.

The main advantages of winter triticale are that if the rye seed did not initially germinate or if the cover crop is allowed to go to seed, winter triticale does not volunteer or is not as hard to control as winter rye. It is an easier cover crop component to control in rotations where volunteers are undesirable.



Below is a guardian, a Sparrow Hawk, small but nimble; they help control the mouse population.*

*Myself, in last week's newsletter.

Name-wise I stand corrected, see below.

The above is an American Kestrel, which I knew when I put together the March 30th newsletter, the one which had the piece about Marty's nests.

A followup email from the gentleman who pointed out that it wasn't a sparrow hawk, after which I sent him a link to the article from the Spring in which I discussed the kestrels we were trying to attract with Marty's bird houses:

Aubrey,

An interesting article on the kestrels. I have seen them hovering and it is a bit like a hummer. Another thing about them is that females are larger than males. That is true of all the hawks and falcons. Another odd fact is that as you go up the chain to larger species the females may eat the smaller males of the lower species.

One late afternoon sitting on my back porch in Washington, DC, I heard a strange call and looked up and saw on my neighbor's tv antenna across the alley a strange bird. Rushed upstairs to get my binoculars and spotted a female kestrel eating a mourning dove. I was thrilled to see it until I realized that my neighbors might think that I was peeping into their bedroom.

Jerry 



Future Figs

Jesse has three more rows prepared to be planted to fig trees he has been raising for two years.

He is saying that he should be able to leave a

light crop on to be picked next season,

i.e. year one in the ground.

These are the two year old plants he will soon plant in the above rows. I know that some of them are the progeny of a couple of plants gifted by a customer

who liked his figs but has been growing this strain

for a while and loves them for their small, very sweet figs, and the very hardy plants, which she said will survive cold temp's that would kill most fig trees.

We are hoping that she will get in touch as we've lost track of her name, and Jesse wants to thank her.



Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Roasted Brussels

 sprouts with garlic

N.Y. Times

By Mark Bittman

A 5 star recipe

Total Time 45 minutes

The following recipe results in sweet caramelized Brussels sprouts that will make a believer out of anyone.

4 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 quart of Brussels sprouts (a bit under a pound)
• 4 to 6 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil, to coat bottom of pan
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled (I would then crush the cloves)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Trim bottom of Brussels sprouts, and slice each in half top to bottom. Heat oil in cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers; put sprouts cut side down in one layer in pan. Put in garlic, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Cook, undisturbed, until sprouts begin to brown on bottom, and transfer to oven. Roast, shaking pan every 5 minutes, until sprouts are quite brown and tender, about 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in balsamic vinegar, and serve hot or warm.

Please take the time to read the notes.

~~~~~

NOTES

• A pint of Brussels sprouts is nowhere near a pound. A quart is about 13 ounces. (Pretty accurate - so I changed the ingredient's measure to 1 quart)
• You need to adjust cooking time to account for the size of the sprouts. We used tiny fresh ones which cooked much faster than recipe predicted.
• I chop my garlic (but use less) and add dried cranberries & walnuts at the end. People go crazy.
• I find frying down some bacon and using the rendered fat to coat the sprouts the absolute go to method. I blanch them in boiling water just until they go a vibrant green, then straight to a pan already sizzling with bacon and bacon fat, and let them get that soft gooey caramelized flavor. It took 35 years and an episode of Masterchef to know they weren't actually the boiled to mush rubbish my parents served (he's English, go figure).
• Just as good skipping the stovetop step. Just roast in olive oil, s&p for 15-20 min, drizzle with balsamic right out of the oven. Balsamic is the key, I use 2-3 Tbs. I find the garlic burns and not necessary. Adding chopped pancetta or bacon is great if no vegans.
• Add chopped pancetta or bacon with the Brussels sprouts when you toss them with olive oil - it adds a wonderful flavor. And mince the garlic instead of whole cloves, but add the garlic in the last five minutes since minced will burn if roasted for the entire time. (The recipe also works well w/cauliflower although no need to cover it with foil.)
• I seem to be the outlier here: I think they're perfect done at 450ºF for about 10 to 15 minutes, shaking the pan every five minutes or so. I tried them at 400ºF and they took way too long; even after something like 30 minutes, they didn't really get brown enough. No pleasing everyone, I guess! I do agree with the people who say that 2 Tbs. of balsamic vinegar yields a better result than 1 Tbs.
• It never ceases to amaze me when knowledgeable cooks use extra virgin olive oil in dishes like this. EVOO is a complete waste of money and mainly just a good way to set off the smoke detectors. Not only does it completely lose its distinctive flavor when heated this hot, it also has a very low smoke point (375F, so expect smoke). An extra light olive oil would be a good choice here, as would peanut, soybean, canola, corn, or even ghee.



The Orleans sweet potato, above, is an improved variety of Beauregard, which we used to grow, that was developed by Louisiana State University. It has a 90 day maturity date similar to Beauregard and a similar disease-resistance like Beauregard sweet potato plants. Orleans sweet potatoes have a reddish skin and orange flesh. Orleans sweet potatoes are also sweeter than Beauregard. They have lots of anthocyanins, which help with inflammation.



Above are the cured, cleaned up and graded Murasaki. The ones with attractive reddish-purple skin and a pure white interior; the Japanese “Murasaki” has a sweet, nutty flavor and slightly dry texture. The variety is a versatile culinary ingredient that can be baked whole, peeled and roasted, boiled, mashed, even sliced or diced for a high-heat sauté.

JARRED

PEACHES!

The fresh peaches are, unfortunately, gone till next season, but we now have our canned, or shouldn't it be 'jarred' peaches.



The new batch of jarred peaches have made their way onto market trucks. We used a new, to us, cannery and think that they are the best in a couple of seasons.

These are peak of the season Cresthaven, and it doesn't get better than that for canning.

Also, Jeremiah said that they were the best fresh eating peach of the season.

I'm going to concur that they are really good;

I have them most mornings with some

Cottage Cheese.



Which my wife thinks is disgusting.

I know, this was in a newsletter last season, but I just couldn't resist putting it back in as it is so cute, and there are so many wild mushrooms

around this Fall.



These are from Jesse, today, of Stayman which were just picked at the home farm; it looks to be a

gorgeous crop.

We will have the first of the Winesap this week and these Stayman, Winesap's progeny, will make

their way on loads the following weekend.

What's at Market This Week

We try to get this information correct, but I begin

writing the newsletter on Wednesday, finish

on Thursday, and some entries are only

useful guess-timates.

A new crop of sweet potatoes, both Orleans and Murasaki have been dug, and will be ready, having been cured, next week.

I had thought that it would have been this week.

Shows what I know.

Brussels sprouts - They have been excellent. These first ones have been a bit large but you get that with the first couple of pickings.

Broccoli - the crew is picking lots of fresh sweet broccoli.

Here is an utterly simple N.Y. Times recipe for Roasted Broccoli.

"While many vegetables benefit from roasting, broccoli is an ideal candidate. After just 15 minutes in the oven, the florets come out crisp and browned at the edges with tender stems. Roasted broccoli makes a great weeknight side served on its own, but this cooking method also works well if you’re adding it to a grain bowl or simple pasta dish. Make as written with minced garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice, or add a pinch of crushed red pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan before serving for a crave-worthy vegetable dish."

Romanesco - Next week our own crop of this spectacular Brassica will be ready, therefore it can go to all locations, unlike the purchased ones from auction.

Apple Cider

Nothing spells Autumn

like apple cider. We try to keep ours light and tangy, unlike some of the overly dense, and overly sweet commercial offerings.

Figs - There will be a couple of small pickings, what with the cooler weather we've been having.

🍏🍎🍏 Apples 🍎🍏🍎

and Pears

We recommend that you keep your apples refrigerated to maintain crispness.

A couple of days out in a bowl should be fine, just please don't leave them out for too long.



Winesap - these are off of a very recent planting and are superb, very dark red skin and a wonderful sweet/tangy flavor.

Grimes Golden - We are about out of this fine heirloom variety, the precursor of the Golden Delicious. There may be a few at any given market.

Crimson Topaz

The fruit is an attractive crimson and orange flushed over a yellow background. The flesh is crisp, juicy, and sweet-tart, very similar to Honeycrisp. It is slow to brown when cut, and it makes a great salad apple.

Golden Delicious

The favorite cooking apple of Julia Child and most of the population of France. These make an especially good fresh eating apple when they are recently off the tree.

Mutsu (Crispin) - was introduced to the U.S. in 1948 and is a cross between the 'Golden Delicious' and the 'Indo' apple cultivars. It was developed in 1930.

Mutsu is an excellent dessert, salad, and cider apple. It has a sweet, light flavor when cooked, and it holds its shape well. Mutsu can grow quite large (a pie may require as few as three apples). Its skin is yellow with a slight orange blush, and the flesh is white to pale yellow.

Ludacrisp - Paul had a customer who wanted to try one, so he cut her a sample and she just said "WOW". You may want to try a couple. We think that eventually it may give Honeycrisp, still our best seller, some competition.



Crimson Crisp

The apple has a cream-colored, mildly acidic, coarse flesh; this delicious variety has a sweet, yet spicy taste to it. It was bred to be a disease resistant variety to minimize the need for sprays.

It has become a customer favorite at Twin Springs as it is quite crisp, some might even say hard. The rich flavor will surprise you. It has a very sweet taste with a hint of tartness. Its semi-sweet flavor is wonderful, it just says "apple", and goes great in all cooked products.



Empire - If you seen any at all it will be the last of them. Look to Winesap and Stayman to fill the tangy/sweet slot left open by their having gone.



Suncrisp - are great for fresh eating, and as they tend to not brown very easily they can be cut up and put in lunch boxes or salads, including something like Waldorf Salad, for which you will need some of our celery. The SunCrisp is somewhat sweet but with a tanginess which you don't find in a Gold. The apple is very juicy and acidic, not the least bit bland, with a strong apple flavor.

Honeycrisp

We are now sending down the regular, original 'full season' ones. Fresh, and perhaps that much better than the Premier were.

Nittany - Was developed at Penn State, of Nittany Lions and Nittany Mountain fame, the variety is a cross of York Imperial and Golden Delicious, and retains some of the best qualities of both varieties. 

Tarter than a Gold but juicier than the York (AKA Mountaineer) it is a good all-purpose apple, great both out-of-hand and cooked. My favorite use for this apple is to fry wedges of it in butter until browned and caramelized; it goes especially well with roasted pork.

The flavor of Nittany has often been described as unique, so you'll have to go out and get a sample to see if it will become one of your favorites.

Gala

A great apple for simply eating fresh, out of hand. One of the most popular kid friendly apples, and is usually a moderate sized piece of fruit, great for the lunch box, or for sitting in front of the TV with a knife and a jar of peanut butter.

Crimson Gold

Crimson Gold was originally tested as 'Svatava' from the Czech Republic.

Crisp, sweet-tart fruit that is red striped over yellow, with juicy flesh that is a nice balance of sweet and tart.

Jonagold - This is a very large all purpose apple; in other words it is a great munching apple and a fine cooking apple. It also makes wonderful apple sauce.

Quince - We have a few of these, but I think they are only online at this time.

Harrow Sweet Pears

Similar to Bartlett, a good fresh eating pear.



Beefsteak Tomatoes

The pickings are over outside and we are harvesting the fall greenhouse crop of slicing tomatoes as well as a good number of cherry tomatoes.

But we are going to be very "light" on tomatoes for a while.

Cherry and Pear

Tomatoes

Sungold - we've got a fair number of these all now from in the greenhouses.

Dasher - Our red "pear" tomatoes, perhaps the most 'tomatoey' of the bunch. There are a fair number available, all now from the greenhouses.



Celery

There should be plenty of celery for the next few weeks.

To the right, a photo Dan sent from the field this morning.

Berries

We have very few flats to send down this week, less and less. I'm told we'll only have a handful of each, red and gold raspberries.



Winter Squash - We will be sending down these four varieties: Honeynut, Delicata (seen to the left), Sunshine and Spaghetti squash.

German Hardneck Garlic

Some of the best we've ever grown.

Onions - You will see small to med. sized red onions and yellow/white sweet onions (Candy) which tend to be pretty large.



Try this recipe from Alphafoodie. Easy grilled onions

🥒

Manar - Looks like a good picking ahead for the weekend markets.

Zucchini - All markets will have our freshly harvested 'Zukes' for the foreseeable future. 🥒



Basil - "roots on" - We are back to having plenty. If put in a glass with an inch or so of water it may keep for weeks.

Don't refrigerate basil unless the plant is well protected: i.e. with something like those fuzzy, on the inside, organic cotton veggie bags, which you lightly dampen and refrigerate in the crisper drawer.

Romaine - returns this week!

~~~~~~~~~~

Twin Spring's Canned Goods

No preservatives have been added to these products

Vegetarian Chili - though this may certainly be eaten "as is" it may also act as a base on which to build. It has our tomatoes as its first ingredient then fresh peppers and onions, as well as Great Northern Beans and even Butter! It is a bit on the sweet side for my taste as is the Mesquite BBQ sauce, but I like both.

Jarred Peaches - They are now $8.00 a jar, and a case of 12 is $86.00, just a tiny bit better than 10% off.

Chipotle Ketchup - A wonderful and mildly hot ketchup of which we are quite proud. It is now back in stock.



Mesquite BBQ Sauce - A new smoky, slightly sweet sauce with lots of flavor.

Peach BBQ Sauce - Pretty spicy but not overly "fruity" tasting.



Marinara Sauce - Both the large and the small sizes, great as is, or can be used as a base for other recipes and additions.

Medium Salsa - Not too hot, not too mild.

Tomato Soup - We have plenty now.

Apple Sauce - No sugar or preservatives added, it is smooth and semisweet. If ordered online specify either Cortland or Stayman. At market it is more the luck of the draw, but is stamped on the lid as to what variety of apple we used.



Apple Butter (Fruit Spread*) - Some spice added, but no sugar or preservatives. If we were to call it "apple butter" the regulations say we must add sugar - go figure?

~~~~~~~~~~

All canned goods may be purchased individually, or by the 12 jar case at 10% off. Many items may be ordered by going on the pre-order website.

Cherry Juice may be ordered and is actually less expensive than purchasing the case right at market; i.e. it is considerably less expensive at $60, than the 10% off would make it.

~~~~~~~~~~

*Fruit spread is a designation for preserves, as well as our Apple Butter, which are low on added sugar, the way we prefer it. Roseanne, who, along with her husband Philip, produces all our jams and jellies has all of her products lab tested for sugar and lets us know whether to call the product Fruit Spread or Preserves, the FDA sets the guidelines.



Hot Pepper Jelly

Golden Raspberry Fruit Spread

Fig Preserves

Strawberry Fruit Spread

Blueberry Fruit Spread 

Blackberry Preserves

Black Raspberry Fruit Spread

Blackberry Seedless Jelly

Red Raspberry Preserves  

Red Raspberry Seedless Jelly

~~~~~~~~~~

The items in the section below are offered both online and at "Certain Locations". The list of those markets is right below the next section.

Joe's

Sweet Corn

Joe has told us that next weekend will be the last of his sweet corn.

• Cauliflower - including some purple

• Romanesco - This is still from Leola Auction, but we do have a couple of plantings; they simply aren't yet ready. So these will only be sent to "Certain Locations". I'm told ours will be picked next week.

• Green and gold zucchini

• Mushrooms - a couple of varieties.

• Watermelons - Locally grown

• Green beans and Wax beans (Gold)

• Cabbage - Green and red are now available.

• Green peppers

• Red Beets - with greens still attached.

• Radishes - with greens

Uncle Henry's Hard Pretzels - They are made from their own sourdough yeast, kept from batch to batch, as well as unbleached local flour. Whole wheat pretzels are now available, as are 'low salt' pretzels.

Dipping mustard from McCutcheon's is now available, trust me, it's very good.

Lenca Coffee - We have both whole bean and ground. This is a "bird friendly" coffee, as it is truly shade grown. I'm going to link HERE to their website so that you can easily get to know them.

Elizabeth's Breakfast loaves - She and Gary live just up the hill; Gary brings them down to us the evening before market, just after coming out of Beth's oven (not Gary, the cakes!).

Michele's Granola - Baked fairly locally (near Baltimore), this granola 

has been a mainstay at these locations for a few years. I've found that this is a great topping for cobblers and such. It comes out super crunchy.

Baked Goods - From Stonehearth Bakery, located in Frederick; all items are baked "that" morning, and now individually wrapped or bagged: Baguettes, innumerable kinds of fresh breads, both sliced and unsliced, as well as croissants, scones and cookies, bags of rolls.  

A new, but very similar article to what has been here for years:

"How to keep Breads Fresh 7 methods"

Tart Cherry Juice - Full of antioxidants, this tangy, pure fruit juice, no sugar or preservatives added, is great at taming aches and pains from conditions such as arthritis. It also helps extend your sleep time by perhaps 84 minutes.

"Family of Nuts" - lightly salted roasted cashews, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and mixed nuts, all are nicely done, light on the salt. There are also dry fruits: apricots, figs, dates and raisins.

HERE is an article on tart cherries entitled "Cardiovascular disease remains the No. 1 killer of both men and women in North America. Changes in diet and exercise can go a long way in helping to keep your heart healthy."

Increase sleep by 84 minutes per night. See below for a write-up* 

Allen's, as well as some from other sources, fresh local eggs - Brought to Twin Springs weekly, both white and brown eggs from happy "free walking" hens, raised just outside of Gettysburg.

Pure Local Honey - Jim Small continues to keep us supplied with his local wildflower honey, totally unadulterated, and minimally heated -only when needed to get it to flow for bottling.

Honey - more popular than ever.

Fresh Hard Pretzels - Locally made, coming in both regular and Honey Whole Wheat. Hand made and freshly baked in our area. 

Artisanal Cheeses - Curt's locally produced cheeses: sharp cheddar, cheddar, Conall's lava cheddar, smoked cheddar, as well as smoked Jalapeño; also available are goat gouda and goat cheddar. 

Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar - Tapped and bottled on the Patterson Farm in Pennsylvania. Did you know that a jug of syrup may be frozen to keep it fresh; it will still flow, though quite slowly, when brought out of the freezer. Unlike honey, which simply won't go bad, other than perhaps crystallizing, maple syrup should at least be refrigerated, once opened, as it can develop mold.

I'm going to LINK HERE to an article, from Canada no less, which enumerates many recent discoveries about the benefits of replacing some sugars with natural maple syrup. Studies have uncovered a multitude of compounds in the sap, therefore the syrup, which can act as anti-inflammatories, many of which will be familiar from past newsletters, but who knew they were in maple syrup?

McCutcheon's Products - We carry an extensive line of jams, some fruit sweetened, ie. no cane sugar or corn syrup, and jellies, as well as many other great products, like Bread and Butter Pickles, Chow Chow, Relishes, and much more created right in Frederick Maryland. 

*Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice

A study of distance runners by Texas A&M University, in College Station, determined that short-term supplementation of dried tart cherry powder* improved running times, decreased inflammation and increased muscle metabolism and immunity.

The researchers divided 27 endurance-trained young adult athletes into two groups. Eleven participants were given a daily powdered tart cherry supplement for 10 days, and 16 were given a rice flour placebo. All completed a half-marathon near the end of the 10-day trial. The researchers tested fasting blood samples and a quadriceps muscle soreness rating prior to the run, 60 minutes after the run and 24 and 48 hours post-run.

The tart cherry group reported 13 percent faster average running times, as well as significantly lower inflammatory markers. They also reported 34 percent lower quadriceps soreness prior to the run. Tart cherry supplementation also increased immunity and resulted in better muscle metabolism. 

And another write-up, from the AARP Bulletin:

From the AARP Bulletin: "Talk to your doctor about ways to relieve pain without drugs. Heat, massage and acupuncture, for example, are effective for lower-back pain. Or try tart cherry juice. Drinking eight ounces twice a day has been shown in preliminary research in older adults to reduce pain and increase sleep by 84 minutes per night, says Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute in Mebane, N.C."

*We, of course, sell the 100% tart cherry juice bottled by our cider mill, Kimes, in Bendersville Pa. A case may be ordered at 10% off. 

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