What Are Cherries and How Can I Use Them?

Ever wondered about those glossy, ruby-red gems perched on your sundae or stirring up your Manhattan? Maraschino cherries aren't just cocktail flair—they're a sweet, preserved treat with a boozy backstory that's evolved into a kitchen staple for everything from retro desserts to modern mocktails.

Originally hailing from Croatia and Italy, true maraschino cherries were made from tart marasca cherries soaked in maraschino liqueur—a luxe spirit distilled from the fruit itself. Fast-forward to the U.S. in the early 1900s, and Prohibition flipped the script: producers swapped the alcohol for a brine solution, then sweetened and dyed them that iconic bright red (or sometimes green for fun). Today, most are crafted from sweet varieties like Royal Ann cherries, pitted, bleached, soaked in syrup, and flavored with almond extract for that signature nutty vibe.

The process? It starts with fresh cherries getting a saltwater brine bath to preserve and firm them up. Then they're pitted, dyed with food coloring, and steeped in a sugary syrup—often high-fructose corn syrup or cane sugar—infused with flavors. No alcohol in the modern versions, making them kid-friendly for ice cream toppers or fruitcakes, but purists hunt for luxe imports still laced with liqueur.

In the kitchen, these bad boys shine in classics like pineapple upside-down cake, ambrosia salad, or Shirley Temples. They're shelf-stable dynamite, adding a pop of color and sweetness without the fuss of fresh fruit.

Just rinse off excess syrup if you're watching sugar intake.

Discover what maraschino cherries are made of—from their Italian liqueur origins to today's sweet, dyed delights—perfect for cocktails, desserts, and kid-friendly treats like "easy retro sundae recipes" or "best cherry garnishes for drinks."

Candied cherries, also called glace cherries, are whole cherries soaked in heavy sugar syrup until the fruit's own water is replaced by sugar. The result is dense and glossy, with a chewy bite and a long shelf life that comes from all that sugar.

Most are dyed bright red or green, the colors that make a fruitcake look like a fruitcake.

They are a baking and garnish ingredient, not a snacking cherry. The flavor is candy-sweet rather than tart, so they show up where you want jeweled color and a sticky, sugary pocket in the crumb.

Sour cherries are the tart, soft, bright-red cherries grown for cooking rather than snacking. Montmorency is the variety most people know, and you will also see them sold as pie cherries or tart cherries. Bite one raw and your mouth puckers.

That sharpness is the point. Where sweet cherries go flat and dull once baked, sour cherries keep their lively tang and red color, which is why pies and preserves call for them by name.

Dried cherries are fresh cherries with most of the water pulled out, leaving a chewy, intensely flavored little jewel of fruit. Drying concentrates the sugars and the cherry's natural acidity, so a spoonful packs far more punch than the same weight of fresh.

They come in two camps, and the difference matters. Tart cherries, usually the Montmorency variety, dry into a bright, almost sour bite and are often sweetened to balance it.

Sweet cherries, like Bing, dry darker and mellower, closer to a raisin in sweetness.

Reach for tart when you want the dried fruit to cut through richness, and sweet when you want it to read as candy.

Dark sweet pitted cherries are the canned or frozen version of Bing-type cherries: deep burgundy, mild, and sweet, with the stones already removed. They're the dark, glossy cherries that anchor Black Forest cake and cherry pie filling, sold packed in light syrup or juice, or frozen loose in a bag.

The "sweet" in the name matters. These are not the bright, mouth-puckering Montmorency cherries used in classic tart cherry pie.

Dark sweet cherries are low in acid and gentle in flavor, so most recipes that use them lean on the cherry color and soft texture more than on a sharp punch.

Buying them pitted and preserved is mostly about convenience. Fresh sweet cherries have a short summer window and need pitting by hand, while a can or freezer bag is ready year-round.

Bing cherries are a type of sweet cherry that originated in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

They were created as a crossbreed between the Black Republican cherry and the Royal Ann cherry in 1875 by horticulturist Seth Lewelling and his Chinese foreman, who was named after the cherry.

Bing cherries are cherished for their deep red color and juicy flesh.

They are firm, sweet, and have a subtle tang, making them perfect for snacking or using as a garnish in desserts.

The darker the shade of red, the riper and sweeter they are.

They can also be used in various culinary applications such as fruit salads, baking, or making preserves and jams.

Bing cherries are a widespread variety of sweet cherry and are beloved for their sweet flavor and versatility in the kitchen.

Cherry juice is the pressed liquid from cherries, and it splits into two camps that taste nothing alike. Tart cherry juice, from Montmorency and other sour varieties, is sharp and ruby-dark, with barely any sweetness. Sweet cherry juice, from Bing-type fruit, is mellow and almost grape-like.

Which one a recipe wants matters. The tart kind brings acidity and a clean cherry punch, while the sweet kind leans dessert-soft and can taste flat where you need a lift.

Beyond drinking, the juice is a quiet kitchen workhorse. It carries cherry flavor and a deep red color into sauces, gels, sorbets, and baked goods without the bulk of whole fruit.