Smeltzer Orchard Company

I went on a job interview once, where the majority of the interview was me discussing what sort of food I liked, could cook and what restaurants I liked in the Bluegrass of Kentucky.

During the course of the interview, the owner of the company says “You have to try this.” and goes in to a room, fetches a box of dried berries and gives them to me. It sounds cool, but in fact I had to carry around this box of dried fruit, to explain to everyone I interviewed with after this why I was carrying around the box. And I felt like a dork.

I got the job. But what was even better than the job (which turned out to be nightmare incarnate) was the fruit. Delicious, sweet, plump, dried fruit. Berries to be exact. Blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, cherries; quite possibly the most delightful mixture of fruit ever assembled.

Smeltzer Orchards are located in the magical land of northern Michigan where, for reasons unknownst to me, all berries that grow seem to have the sweetest flavor in the world.

When I was pregnant with my twins, my mom bought me a CASE of the dried mixed fruit because she knew I loved it so much.

And I gobbled up the sweet, fruity goodness box by box, nearly beating anyone who came near my Smeltzers. I caught someone eating the strawberries out of it once, it’s 3 years later and I’m pretty sure I’m still not speaking to that person.

Since then I’ve purchased dried berries of various sorts at the grocery and they were nothing but a pale reminder of how good the berries from Smeltzer are.

They might seem a little pricey. But when you take your first delicious bite, you will know where the money went. This is one case where you absolutely get what you pay for — the very best dried fruit of its kind!