About The Cherry Hut
- Based in
- Beulah, Michigan
- Founded
- 1922
- Known for
- cherry pies and Michigan cherry products
James and Dorothy Kraker opened the first Cherry Hut in 1922 on the north shore of Crystal Lake, Michigan, selling homemade pies made with cherries from their own orchard. Their smiling pie-crust face, Cherry Jerry, is still the business's signature. The Cherry Hut later settled at its current site on US 31 in Beulah, and in 1946 a Jam Kitchen opened in nearby Benzonia to make Cherry Hut jams and jellies.
Leonard Case, Jr. started as a helper in that Jam Kitchen in 1946 and bought the Beulah Cherry Hut in 1959. The Cherry Hut celebrated its 100th season in 2022.
Today it runs a restaurant in Beulah and a retail store in nearby Benzonia.
The Cherry Hut questions
What are tart cherries?
Tart cherries are bright ruby red and boldly tart, while sweet cherries are larger and run deep red to purple. Nearly all tart cherries grown in the United States are the Montmorency variety. They are most often sold as juice and concentrate, dried, frozen or canned, and canned tart cherries go into baked desserts.
Is there a difference between jam and preserves?
Under US food rules, jams and preserves share one standard: thick, spreadable foods made from fruit and a sweetener and concentrated until at least 65 percent of the finished product is soluble solids, mostly sugar. For cherries, the mix must hold at least 47 parts fruit to every 55 parts sweetener. The Cherry Hut sells cherry jams and cherry preserves under both names.
