Among the types of cherries cultivated in China, those sold and eaten as fruits are mainly Chinese cherries native to China and European sweet cherries native to western Asia and southeastern Europe. The main producers of Chinese cherries include Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan and other provinces, while the main producers of Sweet Cherries in Europe are in Yantai, Shandong, Dalian, Liaoning and Tacheng in Xinjiang.
Native to the Yangtze River Basin, Shandong, Henan and other places, Chinese cherries are one of the most common fruits in Chinese. The flowering and fruiting periods of Chinese cherries are earlier than those of other fruits, so they have the reputation of "the first branch of fresh fruit". This also laid the foundation for the position of Chinese cherries in traditional ceremonial culture. As early as the pre-Qin Dynasty, cherries were used in temple sacrifices and were fresh fruits donated to ancestors and gods.
In the Southern Song Dynasty's "Mountain Family Offering", a kind of candied fruit was introduced: the cherry was boiled in plum water and pitted, put into a mold and printed into a small cake, and garnished with honey, that is, "cherry frying". Because Chinese cherries are not easy to preserve, the ancients came up with many ways to taste cherries as long as possible, and making dessert preserves made from cherries as raw materials is one of them. The restored cherry syrup in the picture is similar to cherry frying, the cherry is pitted and pickled, and eaten in honey water.
(Content from Chinese Heritage, August 2019)