When you think of chocolate-covered cherries, there's a good chance you picture those old-fashioned cherry cordials — the ones in the red and white box that show up every Valentine's Day and Christmas. A chocolate shell, a gooey liquid center, a maraschino cherry floating somewhere inside.

They're nostalgic. They're everywhere. And they're nothing like what we make at Chukar Cherries.

Here's the full story on what actually separates a cherry cordial from a real chocolate-covered cherry — and why the difference matters more than you might think.

What Is a Cherry Cordial?

Cherry cordials have been around since the 1800s, when European confectioners began enclosing whole cherries in chocolate with a splash of kirsch liqueur. The name "cordial" originally referred to that liqueur center.

By the time the American candy industry got hold of the idea in the early 1900s, the liqueur was replaced with something cheaper: a paste made from confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, and invertase — an enzyme that slowly liquefies the sugar center after the chocolate shell is applied. That's the "liquid" you taste when you bite into a Cella's or Queen Anne cordial today. It's not cherry juice. It's not liqueur. It's liquefied sugar syrup surrounding a maraschino cherry that's been treated with sulfur dioxide to preserve its color.

Take a look at the ingredient label on a box of Cella's Milk Chocolate Covered Cherries:

Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk, Chocolate, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin — an artificial flavor), Cherries Treated with Sulfur Dioxide (a preservative), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Citric Acid.

Sugar is the first ingredient. The cherry is preserved with a chemical. The "chocolate flavor" comes from vanillin — a synthetic vanilla substitute. There is nothing in that list that couldn't be made cheaper or more shelf-stable.

What Makes Chukar's Chocolate Cherries Different?

At Chukar, we start from the opposite direction entirely.

Our chocolate covered cherries begin on family-owned orchards in Eastern Washington — the same region that produces more than 60% of the nation's sweet cherries. Once the cherries are fully tree-ripened, they're delivered directly to our factory in Prosser, often from orchards just a few miles away. We dry them in-house at low temperatures, without added sugar, without sulfites, and without preservatives of any kind.

Then they go into the copper panning kettles.

Traditional copper panning is the same method European chocolatiers have used for centuries. The dried cherries tumble slowly in the rotating kettles while layers of premium chocolate are applied gradually, building up a smooth, even coating that locks in the fruit's natural flavor. It's a hands-on process that takes time and skill — and it's the reason our chocolate cherries have a texture and depth of flavor that a mass-produced cordial simply can't replicate.

The result is a chocolate cherry where the fruit is the star. You taste the cherry first — its natural sweetness, its slight tartness, the firm chew of a properly dried Washington State Bing. The chocolate is there to complement it, not to hide it behind a wall of sugar syrup.

Side by Side: The Real Differences

Which Should You Choose?

If you're looking for a nostalgic holiday candy and sugar content isn't a concern, a cherry cordial does exactly what it's designed to do. It's sweet, it's familiar, and it's been around for over a hundred years for a reason.

But if you want to taste what a chocolate-covered cherry is actually capable of — when you start with a genuinely great piece of fruit and pair it with real chocolate — that's a different experience entirely. It's the difference between a maraschino cherry floating in sugar syrup and a sun-ripened Washington Bing that's been carefully dried to concentrate its natural flavor, then coated in dark chocolate in a copper kettle by hand.

That's what we've been making in Prosser since 1988.

Find Your Favorite

Not sure where to start? Here are our most popular varieties:

• Classic Dark Cherries — Naturally dried Bing cherries in rich dark chocolate. Our original and still our best seller, with 4.97 stars across nearly 280 reviews.
• Classic Milk Cherries — The same great Bing cherry in creamy milk chocolate. A crowd-pleaser for anyone who prefers a sweeter profile.
• Cherry Blossoms — Tart Montmorency cherries in milk chocolate. That sweet-tart contrast is something a cordial could never pull off.
• Black Forest Cherries — A bold dark chocolate cherry with a deep, slightly smoky finish.
• Chocolate Cherry Assortments — Can't decide? Our gift assortments let you try several varieties at once — and they ship beautifully for gifting.

The Process Behind Chukar Cherries

Our chocolate cherries begin their journey on nearby orchards in Washington and Oregon. Once fully tree-ripened, fresh cherries are gently dried without added sugars or preservatives, then paired with our signature chocolate blends. Chocolates are shipped fresh from our factory headquarters within weeks of being made.