How to eat cherry pits?

[kurite]

Hi I recently have started to eat the seeds of many of the fruits I eat. Ones like apricots have an outer shell and then inside is the edible kernal. So i brake open the shell to get to the kernal. But I started eating some cherries and couldn't figure out if the entire pit is a kernal or if it contains a shell?
Any info would be great
thanks

[alphagruis]

Cherries are drupes from Prunus species as are apricots or almonds.

So there is a small kernel much like almonds in the shell of cherry pits. Yet such kernels are generally not edible because the plant protects its seeds chemically against predators, in particular with a very toxic chemical called hydrogen cyanide.

Domesticated almonds are an exception.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond

[kurite]

Actually some people believe the cyanide within seeds have anti cancer properties. But just to clarify, there is a shell?

[alphagruis]

Yes, there is a shell.

And yes, very small amounts of cyanide or many other molecules found in plants such as cabagge are useful in medicine or heath promoting but highly and even deadly toxic in larger quantities.

Sweet almonds still contain a little bit cyanide.

[ForTheHunt]

Seeds are not meant for eating. The fruit does not want you to eat it, but it does want you to eat the meat around the seed so you can spread the seed once you're done.


And because it does not want you to eat it, it has defense mechanisms.. i.e. cyanide and other chemicals that will make you sick and kill you if you eat it in high volume.

I heard of a guy who bought a few pounds of cherries at his local market. Sat on his porch and ate a lot. Spit all the pits at the same place. A few hours later he found his dog dead because he had eaten all the pits and gotten poisoned.

[Curator]

yeah...the pits are toxic, a few here and there wont kill you, but many can kill you, cyanide is only used even by those who believe it helps with cancer, in extremely small trace amounts, the pits of droops other than the almond, do not carry "small" amounts of cyanide...to many people have died from stuff like this...I really wouldn't suggest it...

[Paleo Donk]

I have this oral fixation with fruit seeds - basically after I've eaten the last of whatever fruit I am eating I will keep chewing the seed and with time it will inevitably break and I will taste the kernal. They all taste bitter and toxic: mango, plum, cherry, peach, olive. Apple and watermelon I can't recall tasting that bad though. But, yea if you chew on the seed long enough it will just break.

[Snamisolnsew]

Thank you informed me.

[jaketoleng]

so is any body of you believe that cherry pits can help in cancer patient..?