The Fourth of July food incident that may have cost a US president his life

If cherries were the cause of Zachary Taylor’s death, he would not be the only one. Thomas Lockey, former chief librarian of Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, is said to have died in 1679 from “an excess of cherries.” The same cause of death is also associated with Catherine Douglas, Duchess of Queensberry, who allegedly died in 1777 from excessive consumption of the stone fruit.

Before you swear off the tart red fruit forever, rest assured that death from cherries is highly unlikely. Although their high fiber content can cause stomach pain, you would have to eat an unholy amount of them to trigger a true medical emergency. The danger lies in the pit, which contains enough cyanide to potentially cause death. The same goes for apricots, peaches, and other stone fruits.

As long as you don’t eat any cracked pits or seeds, you should be safe. Speaking of which, now would be a good time to learn how to pit stone fruit like a pro.