Traverse Bay Fruit Dried Cherries, 4 Pound

It took me awhile to order these, based on some of the negative reviews and the fact that I typically purchase my dried cherries from Costco. Since my Costco has been out of cherries for months, I was desperate and placed my order. My order arrived today and I'm delighted. If you like the cherries that Costco sells under their Kirkland Signature branding, you'll love these. Moist and tangy. YUM! Here were some of the negative comments I considered and my response to them for anyone who might also be discouraged by them: 1) The package is much smaller than it appears on the site...well, it is true, I was expecting a much larger box, but pictures can sometimes be deceiving...especially when they have a ZOOM feature. The package is only 4 lbs, so when I lifted the box and realized a bigger box would mean ALOT more lbs, it made sense. 2) The price...Last year was apparently a very bad year for cherries, no wonder this package is priced higher than other years. To offer a cheaper product, wouldn't you have to have more of the product. Supply and demand people. I'm guessing the product's price will vary again, depending on how the cherries fare this year and years to come. 3) Cherries are covered in oil...I'm guessing if they didn't have something in there, these babies would be crusty and dry. To be honest, it didn't bother me. I'd rather have something that is still a little moist than something I have to soak in water or milk for an hour before I can chew it. 4) They have lots of sugar...to begin with, as a Type II Diabetic, come on - dried fruit has alot of sugar whether you add sugar to it or not. The key is making good choices and if your goal is to shove as many dried cherries as you can in your mouth during one sitting, then yes...sugar added or not, these have ALOT of sugar. Be responsible and know what works for your own dietary needs. Good luck cherry shopping :)

I was pleasantly surprised with how fresh and tasty these dried cherries were! They have a tender texture, not dried out or tough, as well as being very flavorful, and not too sweet. It makes my mouth water just to think about them! The price was exceptional for this 4 pound box also! They come in a sealed plastic bag, inside their box. To keep them fresh, once opened, I then put the cherries in their plastic bag inside another gallon size storage bag, and squeeze out any extra air in the bags and keep it sealed closed. They have continued to stay fresh this way. The cherries are a nice snack on their own, or when mixed with nuts. For a satisfying and delicious snack, I mix some of the cherries together with Planters Roasted Pecans and Planters Honey Roasted Cashews! Fresh cherries are one of my favorite fruits, so these dried ones are a nice alternative to have on hand. They can also be rehydrated to add to recipes like homemade pound cake or muffins, which I have plans on doing next. Give these dried cherries a try, you won't be disappointed! Highly recommend them!

These dried cherries are delicious, healthy food sold on Amazon at wholesale prices. Traverse Bay, Michigan is the center of the state's largest cherry growing region. You receive the 4-pound box directly from where the fruit was both grown and processed. Their quality is first rate. The vast majority of all tart and sweet cherries produced there are processed: frozen, canned, brined, dried, or chemically preserved as bottled maraschino cherries. Michigan is by far the biggest grower of tart cherries accounting for over 70% of the nation's output. Traverse City, MI calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World. It certainly is the national tart cherry capital. Turkey actually substantially outproduces the US in growing cherries. That is appropriate considering that Turkey is where ancient Europe found the varieties that it grows. I assume that these Traverse Bay cherries, which have been dried and moderately sweetened, are one of the tart varieties. We do not find them overly sweet but rather intensely flavored by the fruit itself. By comparison, my wife and I find most varieties of raisins to be a bit too sweet. Many writers claim cherries have a number of important attributes that can reduce pain, especially joint pain, assist digestion and help reduce both cancer and heart disease. That is another good reason to have some daily. Their taste and convenience make them easy to use whether you eat them directly or in salads or in baking. Thankfully, Amazon makes them affordable. When you subscribe you can save up to an additional 15% more, which drops their price to half of what health food stores charge per pound. The only minor complaint I have is that although rare, it is still possible to find a partial pit or two in each box. That falls under the category of being understandable or par for the course. In all: Highly recommended.

This was my first time ordering these cherries. My husband has gout, so I thought this might be a good snack to help him ward off attacks. (Cherries are known gout helpers.) I wasn't thrilled with the price, but when it got down to a more reasonable cost (under $25), I ordered one to try. I was not sure I really wanted to, with all the mixed reviews of some orders being moist and great and some being nasty and dry. The box we got arrived quickly and in good shape. I'll post photos later, but wanted to get the review going. I must say that I had a much bigger box in the picture in my head. Yes, you get this box, but it is SMALL! I know they list the weight, but it was a little hard for me to visualize four lbs of dried cherries. I'm probably not the only one. Upon opening the box, all the cherries are in one sealed blue bag. I guess the blue color helps with keeping the condition of the fruit from deteriorating. I cut it open very carefully, and decided to bag them up in snack-size zipper bags. (I was originally going to use our vacuum sealer to make smaller bags, but the quantity was less than I had visualized. Zip top snack size worked great. I used a spoon to fill them to not touch any of the other cherries. Then came the big mistake - I ate a pinch of them. I say mistake, because my husband is going to have to be quick to get some! These were a little more tart than I thought they'd be, but they are delicious. The bag we got had reasonable-sized cherries, around a fat raisin size. They were very moist. As I let some sit in my mouth, they seemed to plump even more. Upon chewing, they released a wonderful flavor that made my mouth water a little bit. I can see using these in muffins and cookies, in your cereal, snack mixes and just eating. So far, I've had more of the cherries than my husband. (Hey, you snooze, you lose!) They are wonderful. Not sure a second order would be the same quality though. I am a bit concerned with all the mixed reviews about getting a consistent quality for the second order. They are too expensive to have something dry and tasteless arrive at the door. All in all, happy with this purchase.

I am glad that another reviewer pointed out that these ship from different farms. The first order I received was very nice, almost as good as the Kirklland brand (but not as large or plump,) still very good. the second batch were smaller, dryer, maybe it is because it is summer now and it is last year's crop? In any event I was much less impressed by the second box. If I had received those first I would not have subscribed. Now if that is due to seasons then it is to be expected but the second batch did indeed ship from a different company than the first. Even at the lowest price I have seen here (about $18) these cost a bit more by the ounce than the ones we get at costco... and that is in the most expensive place on earth (Hawaii). If they had them all the time I would buy those exclusively, but they don't. Maybe they only ship/ sell when they are fresh? I do not want to knock these to much. They are good and a much better value than at the average supermarket. We just have a better option. If they were as good the very small price difference wouldn't matter as the convenience would more than make it up. But I find the Kirklands better and more consistent in quality. I also wish they would not add sugar or oil to these :( I really do not want added sugar or fat in dried fruit! I suppose it beats chemicals, but I don't buy chemically treated fruit. These are good, but not the best I have had, and I am about as far away from cherry country as one can get.

First of all I really love the taste of these things hence the 5 stars. Now on to the confusing part. While munching on these when I first received and opened the box. I had the box setting in front of me so having nothing else to do at that moment I proceeded to read the box. I first read the Nutrition Facts and Ingredients info. Turned the box to the right not much to read there, turned again to the front not much there either. So I turned it one more time ah! a little bit of reading. I read the blurb of how Traverse Bay has been in business since 1973. Then moved over to the next column and came across this bit: Great Tasting Perfect for Salads, Baking, Desserts & Snacks _______________ Provides Heart=Health Benefits as Part of a Balanced Diet Good Source of Vitamin A Whoa there didn't I just read under Nutrition Facts Vitamin A 0% I flipped the box back to the nutrition side and sure enough Vitamin A 0%. Well now kinda makes one wonder about what else is in conflict on labels out there. Anyway it's not a big issue with me, (note I didn't deduct any stars) I originally got these, (along with other dried fruits) because of my minor irritation from High Fructose Corn Syrup, (that is in most every thing sweet, (and other wise) on the grocery shelf now days), that and an/a consummate sweet tooth. With these using sugar instead, filled that bill. Over all I'm happy with this produce. I just mentioned this because I noticed it, no other reason. Harold.........(:>))

The dried cherris that I ordered arrived on time and in good shape. I am very happy with them. They are fresh looking and tasting. We are very happy with them! The package has NOT been down sized which is a plus.

My review of Traverse Bay Fruit Co's dried cherries is going to be almost identical to Robert J. Kiep's, which was written on 7/17/12. The cherries I ordered last year were plump, sweet, and delicious. They came out of the package looking and tasting *perfect*, and remained perfectly wonderful to the very last one. Last week I placed a new order for the cherries and what I got was something that might as well have been little bits of dried cardboard. So I thought, "Hmm, maybe I got a bad batch, let's call for a replacement." Amazon, as always, was great about sending a replacement right away. But guess what? I got the same tasteless, nearly colorless dried bits of cardboard again, which leads me to believe that Traverse Bay is doing something vastly different with their cherries now - or obtaining them from an altogether different source. Don't even consider purchasing these for the asking price. It would be highway robbery. I wouldn't spend $5 on the two boxes I received in the mail this week. I think I will try Costco's dried cherries as I've read good things about them. Bummer about Traverse Bay. I'm disappointed. I love to bake with dried cherries, and to snack on them, too. On a positive note, the Amazon rep was kind enough to immediately refund my money, and to let me know that he'd look into the matter so that others here are not disappointed in a similar fashion.