National Cherry Turnover Day is celebrated annually on August 28 in the U.S. This is the perfect time to celebrate this dessert as it is almost the end of summer and people are still going outdoors for picnics or camping — so cherry turnovers make a great food item to carry along.
A cherry turnover is a puff pastry that is stuffed with cherry filling and then baked until it turns golden brown. There are many variations to this dish but the classic remains a favorite.
- 72 BC – Lucius Licinius Lucullus brings a cultivated cherry to Rome from northeastern Anatolia.
- 1440 – The first recorded instance of turnovers was in 1440
- 1600s – English colonists bring cherries to North America.
- 1850s – Peter Dougherty, a Presbyterian missionary, plants cherry trees at Old Mission Peninsula, paving the way for modern-day cherry production.
- 1893 – The first commercial tart cherry orchards are planted in Michigan on Ridgewood Farm.
- 1920s – Bakeries and food companies begin mass production of cherry turnovers, making them more accessible to the public.
- 1980s – Fast food chains like Arby’s introduced cherry turnovers as a regular dessert item on their menus, further boosting their popularity.
- 1990s – With the advent of food blogs and cooking shows, homemade cherry turnover recipes become increasingly popular, encouraging home cooking and baking.
- Turnovers date back to ancient times and used to be called “portable pies.”
- Cherry turnover originates from France like most desserts. They came from savory meat pies that were developed into desserts that could be carried along by workers easily.
- It is believed that the monks of the German monastery Maulbronn invented turnovers to conceal the fact that they were eating meat during Lent.
- As compared to lighter cherries, darker cherries have higher levels of antioxidants.
- A commercially grown cherry tree will produce 7000 cherries on average each year.
- In the U.S., over 75% of the cherries sold come from the state of Michigan.
- Frozen cherries tend to concentrate and improve their taste.
- Cherries are related to plums, peaches, and nectarines.
- Cherries are drupes or stone fruits.
- There are more than 1,000 varieties of cherries in the United States.
- There is an average of 44 cherries in one pound.
- Darker cherries contain stronger antioxidant power than pale cherries.
- On average, a cherry tree used for marketing gain will yield 7000 cherries a year.
- The English word “cherry” derives from the French word “cherise.” English speakers, hearing the word for the first time, misunderstood how it was spelled and assumed it was the plural for the fruit — which is why the terms “cherry” and “cherries” don’t align in the two languages even to this day.
- In the gambling world, cherries are king — especially on slot machines. The reason, according to “Professor Slots” Jon Friedl: When slot machines were first invented in the early 1900s, several cities quickly banned them. “To circumvent these new laws on cash-paying slot machines,” Friedl says, “manufacturers began turning their gambling devices into chewing gum dispensers.” Numbers were replaced with fruit symbols, and when you got three in a row, you won a piece of gum. Since cherry-flavored treats were most popular at the time, three cherries ultimately became the biggest — and most desired — win.
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