Hence, Chukar’s new recipe for double chocolate, double cherry, double brandy cupcakes.

Double Chocolate
Velvety cocoa buttercream frosting tops moist chocolate cake. We used Duncan Hines® Devil’s Food cake mix, but if you have your own recipe, kudos to you!

Double Cherry
Actually, make that triple. We chose Cherries Jubilee Dessert Sauce as the filling because it contains two varieties of Northwest cherries. The cherry on top is a dark sweet Dessert Cherry.

Double Brandy
We added a splash of brandy to the cake and frosting. If you’re feeling very grown-up, you can soak the Dessert Cherries in brandy for a few hours before topping the cupcakes.

A jar of Chukar’s salsa contains these all natural ingredients:

• Cherries
• Peaches
• Tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Jalapeños
• Onion
• Salt
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Lemon juice
• Sugar

Tips for use:

1. Pour into a bowl for a ready-made corn chip dip.
2. Utilize as bottom layer of fluffy, savory Parmesan French toast. (recipe below)
3. Moisten and season halibut tacos.
4. Whip up healthy and scrumptious egg salad.
5. Try grilled chicken with salsa, because everyone needs a 20-minute-meal repertoire.
6. On that note, try it on anything grilled.

Recipe inspired by Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, “Two Tomatoes and Parmesan French Toast.”

Often before I start my shift at Chukar Cherries, I wander Pike Place Market in search of seasonal fruits and veggies and the most succulent spices and specialties. One of my favorite spots to snoop is the produce stands—where recipe ideas pop out of the bins of fresh veggies like peas from a pod.

So, when rhubarb started making an appearance at the Market, I snatched it. Rhubarb is so easy to cook and its naturally tart flavor pairs perfectly with Chukar’s no sugar added Totally Tart Cherries.

I went home to survey my catch. But it wasn’t pies, crisps, or cobblers that came from the flurry of rhubarb, cherries, and sugar. It was soup. Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Soup. An extremely simple summertime dessert that can be served hot or cold.

Like dried cherries, dried berries fare well in baked goods. But there are a number of other simple, creative ways to brighten these berries and bejewel whatever’s coming out of the oven:

• Try reconstituting cranberries in warm orange flavor liqueur for 15-20 minutes. Experiment with reconstituting any of our berries with fruit juice, rum, or Armagnac for a change.
• Infuse your pancake syrup with blueberries (or your berry of choice). Bring 1 cup syrup to boil, remove from heat, stir in 1/2 cup dried blueberries. Let stand until cool. For best flavor, cover and refrigerate overnight, then reheat before serving.
• Make Cranberry Orange Butter, a dried berry and butter spread that is somewhere in between velvety butter and jam. Feel free to use other berries in lieu of cranberries, and other fruit juice instead of orange.
• Experiment with flavor combinations in your baked goods: lemon with poppy seed and blueberries, strawberries with vanilla, and cranberries with walnuts and white chocolate.

When it comes to experimenting with berries, we’ve found that this handy 3-in-1 dough is exceptionally inviting. With one set of ingredients (albeit two sets of directions), you can create berry pancakes hot off the griddle, or berry studded muffins and tea bread steaming from the oven. Top with berry syrup or spread with Cranberry Orange Butter.

Our thanks to Cynthia Nims for sharing this recipe.

Hence, Berry Butter. This dried berry and butter spread is somewhere between velvety butter and jam. Though our recipe uses Chukar North Cove Cranberries and orange juice, one could easily imagine using pomegranate juice and Puget Sound Blueberries, or peach juice and Skagit Valley Strawberries.

Recipe inspired by the New Basics Cookbook, ”Orange Butter”

The flowers are picked in the evening and then taken fresh to the Market for sale the next day.

We’re privileged to have some of the Market’s most beautiful bouquets inhabiting the space directly across from Chukar Cherries in Pike.

In general we recommend sweet Columbia River Tarts for baked goods and no sugar added Totally Tarts for sauces, meat dishes, and salads. This is because Columbia River Tarts plump nicely in baked goods and balance sweet with just enough tart to make them stand out in bread, muffins, cookies, etc. Totally Tarts are thinner and their intense sour cherry flavor works well in savory dishes and sauces.

Today our cooking challenge is using Totally Tarts in a salad with jicama. If you’re not familiar with jicama, it’s an extremely adaptable tuber that can be eaten like a fruit or vegetable. Its texture is like that of a crisp pear or water chestnut.

This salad can be used as a side or finished with grilled chicken or shrimp for a light entrée. Chopped almonds and sunflowers make tasty toppers if you have them on hand. You can also make an extra batch of dressing and store it in a mason jar for up to two weeks.

Chukar’s Cherry Pomegranate Chutney could be called rigorously Northwest thanks to its abundance of cranberries, apples, and cherries. The cranberries are harvested on the North Cove, just over 100 miles from Seattle on the Pacific coast. Washington apples are known internationally for their quality and variety. And of course, Northwest cherries hail from the fertile valleys in Washington and surrounding states.

In a nutshell, here’s what’s inside:

Veggies: Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic

Fruits: Apples, Cherries, Cranberries, Pomegranate Concentrate

Herbs/Spices: Allspice, Cloves, Ginger, Jalapeño Pepper

A jar of chutney is brimming with whole cherries and slivers of apple in a spicy, chunky sauce. The fruit has been cooked to a reduction, not pickled like some chutneys, and has mild heat. Unlike relishes, chutneys are almost always sweetened. Ours has brown and white cane sugars, as well as some candied ginger. As a natural preservative, we’ve added cider vinegar.

Tips for use:

1. Serve with curried food.
2. Create tasty appetizers by spreading a tad of chutney over cream cheese or crème fraîche on crackers.
3. Glaze meats. Brush the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Mix 3 tablespoons olive oil with 1/2 cup chutney, then spread it evenly over meat. Makes glaze for 3-4 servings.
4. Spread on sandwiches. Mix with 4 tablespoons mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons chutney and spread on a Chutney Turkey Sandwich. (recipe below)
5. Serve with lamb riblets or grilled fish.

Recipe inspired by Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, ”Curried Turkey Sandwich”

What are the real differences between the Maraschino and Dessert Cherries? For that, we’ll have to discover what’s what.

Chukar’s maraschinos are an all natural version of the clown nose lookalikes that top a Shirley Temple. A testament to nature’s color palette, our maraschinos are dyed with natural fruits and vegetables.

Our Dessert Cherries, on the other hand, are like a two-in-one: the jarred juice may add a cherry swirl to cocktails and drinks like our Dark Cherry Mochaccinos, and the cherries, large and stemmed, charmingly decorate everything dessert. Like the maraschinos, their colors and flavors are derived from fruits and vegetables.

While both products are delicious and just plain fun to eat, there are some differences in their flavors. The Maraschino Cherry harks back to the maraschino liqueur whose name it bears, evoking almond and sweet cherry. In comparison, the Dessert Cherries are sweet, full-bodied, and almost chocolaty.

Though the products are conceptually the same, maraschinos are a favorite for topping Manhattans and other cocktails, as well as chocolate sundaes. Dessert Cherries, on the other hand, fair excellently on top of creamy panna cotta or anything chocolate.