What Asian fruit can help slow the aging process?
According to legend, birds leaving the Orient dropped cherry pits all along their flight towards the west. This is why cherries came to be found in Greece and Rome where they adorned the table of Lucullus. This renowned gastronome, a Roman general by profession, often made long side trips during his campaigns to seek out some rare spice or unusual fruit for his table in his quest for new tastes and harmonious flavors. Thus it was that he brought the cherry from Asia Minor to Italy. Cherries have been popular snack for centuries. In America, French settlers planted pits near the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes as they settled there, eventually founding Detroit and other cities in Michigan. A Presbyterian minister, Peter Dougherty, planted cherry trees near Traverse City, and the state s first commercial tart cherry orchards were established near that spot at Ridgewood Farm, in 1893. Recently Dr. Russell J. Reiter, professor of neuroendocrinology at The University of Texas Health
