Dried Cherry History

In the late 1970’s an experiment was done on the campus of Utah State University. A group of food scientists along with some faculty and staff from the Horticulture department decided to see if they could dry some tart cherries in one of the ovens located in the food science department on campus. It was a very small scale operation but yielded some very promising dried cherries. The group rolled them in sugar and called them snow cherries. They began to hand out samples of these snow cherries around campus to see if the reaction to them was positive. It was.

Soon after one of the professors from Utah State University attended a Payson Fruit Grower board meeting to introduce the “snow cherry” to the board. I was on the board and was impressed along with the other members of the Payson Fruit Grower board. Payson Fruit Growers at that time was one of the newest members of Cherry Central, a marketing co-op for cherries and other fruits and was based in Michigan. Read More

The new Super Fruit

A Few years ago we were growing tart cherries primarily for the dessert trade. We would pack our red tart cherries in 30 pound containers that contained 25 pounds of red tart cherries and 5 pounds of sugar. This was the industry pack and was called 5+1, meaning five pounds of red tart cherries to every pound of sugar. We used pure granulated sugar. These buckets of cherries would be purchased by various pie filling companies or jam companies to be used in mostly desserts and preserves.

As time went on the American public became more and more health conscious and didn’t eat as many red tart cherries. Demand was down and so was the cherry prices. As an industry we have worked hard to change the image of red tart cherries. Through a lot of study and experimentation the red tart cherry has now emerged as the "New Super Fruit".

It has so many health benefits, is loaded with antioxidants, melatonin, and many other anti inflammatory properties. It is so gratifying to be growing red tart cherries, the new "Super Fruit".

Welcome to South Ridge Farms!

We are located on the “south ridge” of a big beautiful valley known as Utah Valley. That’s why we call ourselves “Rowley’s South Ridge Farms”. Most people know us as the “Big Red Barn” where great treats, fresh fruit, gifts, and more are found. I guess I should add “the worlds best ice cream, fresh fruit pies, and mouth watering fudge. There is nothing like sitting down in the evening after a long day on the tractor to a little fudge and a few dried cherries to keep me ticking.

Farm Specialties

• Dried Red Tart Cherries
• Cherry Juice Concentrate
• What makes cherries so healthy?
• Fresh apples, peaches, cherries and asparagus
• Worlds Greatest Ice-Cream
• Famous Fresh Fruit Pie and Turnovers
• Pumpkin Patch and Hayrides
• Spring time bedding plant
• Check out our recipe blog site!

We have been farming for most of five generations now. There have been some lean and mean times, but mostly we have had a lot of good family fun.

I remember some of the things that we make in our barn coming from grandma’s recipe book. Seems like we were always making a batch of homemade ice cream at the family gatherings… now we can share some of those special homemade flavors with each of you. You may have forgotten what a real “homemade” pie tastes like, well I have great news for you: Grandma’s homemade pies are here and they really taste just like they did when you sampled the pies right before that big Thanksgiving dinner! I know that I always tried to sneak a taste before the “big meal”.

We want you to feel comfortable in our barn whether you are visiting in person or on the web. We want to share our little corner of the world with you. Please come in and enjoy the feeling of being a part of our farming family.

Why buy Utah Fruit?

Helping the local economy is not the only reason to buy fruit from Utah. It is the knowledge that fruit from Utah is fresher and tastes better then other fruit that can be found in the produce isle. This can be attributed to many things such as shorter shipping time from the orchard to the consumer.

Utah also has a longer growing season that adds more of the good stuff in our fruit like more flesh in our cherries and more flavor in our peaches. We like to think that Utah fruit tastes better because it is grown in the high mountain valleys just a little closer to the sun and watered with clean mountain water.

When you buy Utah fruit it is comforting knowing where the food you eat has been grown. Knowing that local people whom you can trust have carefully tended to the orchards and fields producing product that has the highest quality. So the next time you are looking for a healthy snack visit the Red Barn and step inside the cooler to sample the best of Utah fruit.