Stemilt Artisan Organics: Organic Sweet Cherries Review

The catch slogan Stemilt Growers uses is "World Famous Fruit." I don't know about you, but I've never thought of Stemilt as world famous-even after recently purchasing a one pound package of Stemilt Artisan Organics Organic Sweet Cherries. Nor have I ever heard of a company use the qualifier "Artisan" to describe its organic foodstuff. But according to Stemilt Growers, "Stemilt is the largest organic tree fruit supplier in the nation." And "Artisan Organics" is their label for organic apples, pears, cherries and summer fruits."

Artisan as a Qualifier for Organic

Upon first reading the name, or label, for the company, I couldn't help but think negatively: "Here's the next level of separation marketers are using in copy to differentiate themselves and their products from the rest...Could we not just keep the organic marketing as clean as the ideal and food itself?"

However upon second thought, when you think about who an artisan is, you're reminded that organic farmers today are, in fact, artisans. The work that goes into delivering to market organic cherries or organic anything, is much more thoughtful and labor-intensive than conventional farming. Analogizing the difference between today's commercial organic farm and a commercial conventional farm, it's the difference between a sweater grandma knitted for you in her living room and a carpet from the carpet mills of Dalton, Georgia; it's the difference between a product carefully produced by hand and a product produced by a machine-run factory.

Kudos to Stemilt Growers for using artisan in its label, albeit less for the marketing ploy and more for the fuller recognition it potentially brings to the organic ideal.

Stemilt Artisan Organics Organic Sweet Cherries ( Taste )

Eating this one pound package of Stemilt Organic Sweet Cherries was made especially enjoyable by my toddler daughter, who was really getting into carefully picking by the stem which cherry she was going to eat next, the darker-colored sweet cherries or the lighter-colored not-so-sweet cherries.

Had it not been that I chose to pick up the pack of Stemilt Organic Sweet Cherries simply for a change instead of the more recognizable Driscoll's Organic Strawberries that I'd been buying so many times in a row, I probably would have passed on them, seeing that about half of the cherries were lighter in color, and therefore less sweet, in all of the packs of Stemilt cherries at market.

The packaging says it was certified by CCOF, which is the abbreviation for California Certification of Organic Farmers-and is distributed by Chinchiolo Stemilt California, Stockton, California. This tells me these organic cherries were grown in California, yet Stemilt says on its website its Artisan Organic Cherries are from Washington. Which is it Stemilt? I'd venture to say this pack of organic cherries were grown in California, because going on taste alone even the sweet ones weren't half as good as organic cherries grown in cherry country-Washington or Oregon ( See ( Mount ) Rainier Fruit Company Sweet Organic Bing Cherries ).

Stemilt Artisan Organics Organic Sweet Cherries ( Packaging & Conclusion )

Perhaps more than the organic sweet cherries, I like that Stemilt Artisan Organics uses a plastic clam shell container from Peninsula Packaging ( PenPack.net ) that's been recycled, "made with 70% recycled pet drink bottles, and made with 50% energy from the sun."

What's really neat about the packaging and on Stemilt's website too is their use of the ladybug. Otherwise, solely from a marketing standpoint, the coloring and the design of the package wasn't too catchy to the eye. Nor is the ladybug on it well-placed.

Then again, it looks like the packaging for Stemilt Artisan Organics Organic Sweet Cherries is part artsy-with its copper-like color for the background, hand-drawn look to the triad of cherries and leaves showing from the side of the label, and the three different fonts or styles of writing used to say "Stemilt Artisan Organics"-and part functional, with its straightforward print at the top of the label, saying "Organic Sweet Cherries."

Despite these cherries weren't all sweet cherries, when pitting Stemilt Artisan Organic Cherries and how much healthier they are for you against cherries that aren't organic from a farm that's been sprayed with harmful pesticides, it's is as easy as cherry pie to recommend Stemilt Artisan Organic Cherries rather than the latter.