Cherries … a lifestyle worth saving

Thank goodness for dried cherries, both for their taste and their importance in sustaining the livelihoods of growers in Leelanau County and across the state.

Cherries easily outperform raisins and cranberries in the dried fruit taste department. We won’t qualify prunes, which are known for outcome over taste, with a comparison to cherries.

Although a relatively new product in the life history of tart cherries, which have been grown in Leelanau County since the late 1800s, some 35 to 40% of tarts are now processed into dried cherries. That’s remarkable.