Why We Dry Our Cherries Without Sugar & What That Means for Your Health

At Chukar, we are proud to naturally dry our fresh cherries without added sugar or perseravtives. In fact, not using sugar in our dried cherries was one of the founding principles of owner Pam Montgomery when she set out to pioneer a new way to dry Washington's cherries back in the 1980s.

Our process remains unchanged to this day because we believe starting with the ripest fruit and drying it slowly creates a naturally sweet dried cherry: the kind of healthy snack that we would want to eat ourselves.

If you are diabetic or watch your sugar closely for health reasons, you have likely noticed on nutritional labels that there is added sugar in dried cranberries and most other dried fruit on grocery store shelves.

Read on for six reasons why most other dried fruit producers include sugar and why you, as a consumer, don't want or need it.

1. Sugar preserves and extends the shelf life of the fruit, just like salt. Dried products with added sugar can sit on the shelf for longer, where the nutritional content slowly degrades over time. 

2. Sugar stabilizes the fruit's bright color. Without added preservatives, sulfates, or sugars, all dried fruit will darken. Consumers have been taught that "dark" is not as desirable as "bright red or gold color."  Similarly, you may have heard of salmon and red meat being injected with red dyes to improve coloration. Unsugared and darker dried fruits could potentially be passed over by unsavvy consumers who believe the bright color indicates health.

3. Inside all fruit, there is innate juice and water. Sugar crystals bind with the liquids and "plump up" the dried fruit pieces so they are rounder and not as flat when dehydrated. This plumpness is visually appealing to consumers, but not truly an indication that the dried fruit is healthier.

4. A bit of added sugar can bring a nice balance to dehydrated fruit, but if the fruit is good quality and ripe when starting the drying process, you do not need a speck of added sugar. 

5. Added sugar and oils, which are also frequently used in dried fruit, add weight and dried fruit is sold on weight. Therefore, it benefits the producer's bottom line to include as much cheap sugar and oil as possible.

6. Sugar adds a nice sweetness to low grade fruit. This includes unripe fruit and fruit grown on less-than-desirable trees. Sugar does indeed make everything taste better, even if it is just an illusion.

Here at Chukar, our process could not be more simple: start with ripe cherries and dehydrate them as soon as they are washed. Our unique drying process preserves all of the goodness that cherries have to offer, and the low temps preserve enzymes and other nutritional benefits that other dried fruits, pumped full of oil and sugar, cannot offer. 

Even though our process requires more labor and produces less product, we know there are health-conscious consumers out there willing to pay a little more for a clean product, like our Bing Cherries and other naturally dried cherries that you simply cannot find anywhere else.