Bonnie: Tart cherries have too short a season, at least for those of us who love this stone fruit. They’re ripe for only about two weeks. But now Sun-Maid is joining Ocean Spray in offering dried Northern Michigan cherries that can be enjoyed year round.

Cherries are rich in the antioxidant anthocyanin from their red pigment. These anthocyanins have been shown to reduce inflammation similar to NSAIDs — nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that include ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen. Cherries’ anti-inflammatory property may also play a role in reducing the same risk factors associated with heart disease and keep blood pressure healthy.

In other words, cherries have lots of good properties in addition to being so delicious.

I find these a tad too sweet for solo snacking, but good to add to hot or cold cereal, homemade granola, salads or even to a whole grain (brown rice, quinoa, barley) side dish. And Sun-Maid’s are a bargain, costing half of Ocean Spray’s. Unless, that is, you can find Ocean Spray’s on sale!

Bryan: Dried fruit, aside from being a wholesome and tasty snack I enjoy on its own, has slowly become my single favorite salad addition. Fruit’s rise and development as a cooking ingredient in my kitchen has surely been the result of the wide variety of options currently hitting the market from a number of major producers. If dried fruit were a stock, I’d be telling you to “BUY.”

As new flavors keep coming out, new uses keep coming to mind, with so many great flavor combinations now available. Gone are they days when your selection at the supermarket might be between banana chips or dried apricots; modern shoppers can now feel like they’re in a Moroccan bazaar whilst walking their local aisles.

Tart cherries are only the newest addition to the Sun-Maid lineup of dried fruits. Raisins are the classic for which we all know the brand, that bright red label with the little grape-harvest lady. What kid doesn’t remember his little box of raisins tucked into his lunch box. You could even turn the box into a kazoo. Though you can likely remember your first raisin box kazoo, you might not have known that Sun-Maid is about more than just little raisin boxes. The company also offers dried currants, apricots, plums (aka prunes), cranberries, apples, figs and dates, as well as a host of yogurt-covered varieties of almost all of them.

Though these wonderful dried fruits are a standout on their own, as I mentioned, I’ve been leaning toward their usage in salads. I’m not on any particular nutritional kick; it’s just that I’ve gotten so much dried fruit in the mail as of late that I’ve been trying to come up with better and better ways to use it. My coup de grace so far is Spinach/Cherry Salad: baby spinach, slivered almonds, crunchy onion strings and chopped dried cherries. Add a splash of olive oil and a fruit-flavored champagne vinegar, salt and cracked black pepper: perfect. This has become my favorite salad, and what ties it all together are the Sun-Maid tart cherries. Would love to hear about your favorite usage…

Eric: Craisin fans unite! There is a new dried fruit in town – the cousin to the cranberry, a fruit that’s not as tart, is sweet yet tangy and is rich in antioxidants. It’s the cherry, my favorite of the stone fruits. Memories come flooding back of sitting on the back porch with a big bowl of freshly washed cherries, eating handful after handful and carefully aiming every pit I spit at a target in the backyard (surprisingly, no cherry tree ever blossomed).

Dried fruit is an integral part of my diet. My mother can attest to that; while growing up, I would eat dried apricots by the pound. Thus the combination of “dried” and “cherry” makes this a product I especially welcome. The Sun-Maid dried cherries are delicious on their own, but make an even better addition to oatmeal, trail mix, scones, salads, etc. Simply put, they’re going to give Craisins a run for their money!