Did you know that the cherries found in cocktails, canned fruit cocktail, or on top of your ice cream aren't "real cherries"? To be perfectly honest, I had no idea until I arrived in Australia and tasted real and natural cherries. Apparently, maraschino cherries or decorative cherries undergo a process of bleaching and preservation with sulfur dioxide and calcium chloride and then soaked in food coloring, corn syrup and others. Real cherries taste nothing like it! In fact, here's a beautiful pair, freshly picked by myself.