If you have never heard of or been to Cherry Republic

Tucked away in the gorgeous lakeside burg of Glen Arbor is an empire known as the Cherry Republic. Bob Sutherland started Cherry Republic with the crazy idea that he could make a living by selling only cherry related products. Well, it seems to be working for him and I have to say that whenever I am anywhere near Glen Arbor I have to stop there and breath in the ambiance of this quaint little empire while grazing through the tasty cherry products. We carry a few of the Cherry Republic products in our gift baskets. You can find Boomchuggalugga Cherry Soda in the Very Cherry Basket and the Michigan's Best Gift Basket. Totally addictive chocolate covered dried (nothing dry about these cherries - trust me) cherries appear in various baskets along with Cherry Sour Patch Candies (kind of like sour gummy worms).

The saddest part of my week has been the notice that Cherry Republic is no longer making Baby Boomchunkas which were awesome little bite-size chocolate chunk cookies with dried cherries and pecans baked right in. Now I must search for a replacement cherry product of some kind, but that is a fun task due to the taste-testing nature of making sure I get a quality product.

Oh, one other item that appears in nearly every basket are Cherry Wafer Crackers. We add these to each basket that contains preserves because they go so well together. They bake thin slices of cherries directly into the crackers. Yum!

Well, if any of you haven't been to Cherry Republic and you want to "experience" their unique Glen Arbor store I found this video on YouTube. It is neat to see the quirky signs that dot the stores and garden area and to hear how Bob Sutherland worked to create what exists today.

Visit Cherry Republic on the web: CherryRepublic.com

Yummy Cherry Recipes

Cherry Republic has some great cherry recipes that I will definitely be trying out. We get a lot of our cherry products that we carry from Cherry Republic. You can get similar items for less at your local grocery store, but I firmly believe that once you try their cherry products you won't make that mistake again. The Classic Cherry Turnovers and Cherry Bread Pudding are at the top of my list to try out. I have made the Slow Cooker Bread Pudding with dried blueberries so I am sure it would be even better with some dried tart cherries.

For cherry recipes to soothe your sweet tooth head on over to Cherry Recipes from Cherry Republic.