How a Walk in the Orchard Inspired Chukar Cherries

Chukar Cherries began with walks through their Washington orchard, where a mother and her daughters observed the changing seasons and ripening fruit. Below is a Q&A from a recent Seattle Refined interview with Founder Pam Montgomery.

Q: You discovered naturally dried cherries while walking in the orchard with your daughters. Can you take me back to that moment? What were you thinking, and how did that spark grow into a company?

A: In my daily walks ‘round the orchard with three young daughters in tow, I would purposely silence my thoughts and focus on the sky, birds, bees, and the orchard in season. In Washington’s Yakima Valley, a fruit orchard constantly changes with the seasons. We harvest the new crop in June of each year. Harvesting the plump Bing cherries on our 100 acres was an organizational feat. With 8,000 trees, leaving cherries hanging on the branch here and there was not unusual.

On our daily walks, we could smell the aroma in the air intensify with the ripening sugars in the hanging fruit. Gradually, the ruby red morsels began to shrivel in the sunshine. I began to experiment with the sun-dried cherries on a small scale. For 3-4 years I picked, dried, and stored a test batch of cherries. Year after year the red orbs darkened in color but kept their flavor and stability.

I called UC Davis, the educational center for the prune and raisin industries. They explained the importance of internal sugar brix and moisture activity in Northwest sweet cherries for preservation and stability. When I gave them both measurements, they said the sugar was too low and the moisture too high to preserve the fruit without adding additional sugar or preservatives. Because their input did not match my findings, I kept experimenting until we were able to pioneer the machinery necessary to dry cherries slowly and naturally using warm air—without added sugar or preservatives. It's the same machinery we use today, plus a few more to meet capacity.

Cherry Cheers,

Read the full interview at Seattle Refined.