Montmorency Tart Cherry

A named sour cherry — Prunus cerasus — not a vague "fruit blend"

All articles checked for accuracy against the GB NHC Register and all sources have citations with verified links to their relevant studies.

Montmorency is a named variety of sour cherry used in supplements. Unlike vague “fruit blends,” it’s a specific cultivar with a traceable composition and a focused research literature.

This article explains what Montmorency tart cherry is, what’s in the fruit, and the precise research areas scientists have explored. It describes how WellsparQ uses the ingredient and the regulatory position on health claims, without making unauthorised benefit statements.

Ingredient Snapshot

What it is

A specific variety of sour (tart) cherry used as an ingredient.

Where from

Montmorency cultivar of Prunus cerasus (tart/sour cherry).

Known for

Noted for its anthocyanin-rich polyphenol profile and trace natural melatonin.

In WellsparQ

• RedBerry Active2,250 mg (equivalent from extract)
• EveningCalm Blend350 mg (equivalent from extract)
• JointEase Blend20 mg (fruit)

Most "cherry" on a supplement label is doing decorative work. Montmorency is different: it is a specific, named variety of sour cherry with a long agricultural history and a genuine research literature behind it. WellsparQ's card makes the point that matters — this is "a named cherry variety, not a vague fruit blend." That specificity is the whole reason to use it.

The fruit

Montmorency is a cultivar of the sour or tart cherry, Prunus cerasus — a different species from the sweet dessert cherry (Prunus avium). It takes its name from a valley north of Paris and has been grown in Europe for centuries; today it is the dominant tart-cherry variety in North American cultivation, used for juice, dried fruit and concentrate ^¹. Sour cherries are too sharp for most people to eat by the handful, which is exactly why they are processed into concentrates — and why they are unusually rich in the compounds researchers are interested in.

Chemistry: colour and rhythm

Two features of tart cherry recur in the research literature.

• Anthocyanins and other polyphenols. The deep red colour of tart cherry comes from anthocyanins, a class of polyphenol; tart cherries also contain flavonols and other phenolic compounds. These are the constituents most often measured when the fruit is studied ^¹.
• Naturally-occurring melatonin. Tart cherries are among the food sources reported to contain small amounts of melatonin, the molecule the body associates with the daily sleep–wake rhythm ^². This is a compositional fact about the fruit, noted here as chemistry — not a claim about any WellsparQ product.

What the research examines

Tart cherry — Montmorency specifically, in many studies — has a sizeable exploratory literature in three areas. It is worth reporting precisely, and no more.

• Exercise recovery. A frequently-cited 2010 study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports examined Montmorency tart cherry juice around marathon running and markers of muscle recovery ^³. A body of similar sports-nutrition work has followed.
• Sleep. A 2012 study in the European Journal of Nutrition examined tart cherry juice, melatonin levels and sleep measures ^², and a 2010 pilot study in the Journal of Medicinal Food looked at a tart cherry beverage in older adults with insomnia ^⁴.
• Uric acid. Several studies, including work in Plant Foods for Human Nutrition (2021) and a 2026 meta-analysis in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, have examined tart cherry intake and serum uric acid ^⁵⁶.

The honest summary is consistent across these areas: the studies are often small, short and varied in preparation and dose, and reviewers call for larger confirmation. Crucially, no health claim for tart cherry is authorised in the GB/EU register. So all of the above is reported here as research about the fruit, with its limitations — never as a WellsparQ promise.

How WellsparQ uses it

Source: WellsparQ Supplements Database. The range uses tart cherry across quite different amounts and contexts — a substantial 2,250 mg equivalent in a berry-forward active formula, a mid-sized 350 mg in an evening blend, and a token 20 mg in a joint complex. In each case the label names the variety and states whether the figure is fruit or an extract-equivalent weight. That word equivalent is honest bookkeeping: it tells you the whole-fruit weight a concentrated extract represents, rather than inflating the headline number.

Suitability and sensible use

Tart cherry is a fruit and suits vegan, vegetarian, kosher and halal diets (check the finished product). It is a food and generally very well tolerated. As with any concentrated fruit extract, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, or managing a health condition (including gout, where dietary advice should come from a clinician), is welcome to speak to a GP or pharmacist first.