Local, natural, organic … and now kosher! What started as a hobby in Cheri Romanoski’s kitchen over 30 years ago has bloomed into a bustling business. Today, her team is just as busy as the bees that pollinate the prickly pear and produce honey for Cheri’s Desert Harvest.
Born in Tucson, Cheri grew up with a love for the Sonoran Desert surrounding her hometown. As an elementary school teacher she taught her students about the vegetation of the desert and the ways in which the indigenous people of the region used its produce. She put this knowledge to use to feed her own family all-natural preserves from her garden and gave the excess to family and friends.
“One day I offered our neighbor some more jellies and he said his cupboards were full. He suggested I sell them,” Cheri says. “We all laughed, thinking that was a joke – who would want to buy my preserves?” Everyone it turned out. She called a few local stores and they were all interested. Her parents came up with the name and she drew the logo herself. That was in 1985 and with a growing trend towards local, indigenous foods, the company has expanded at a nice, steady pace.
“The plan was that I’d go back to teaching once the kids were in school full-time, but that never happened,” says the teacher turned entrepreneur.
Cheri’s Desert Harvest uses hand-picked organic fruits and vegetables that are indigenous to the Southwest. Products include preserves (like Arizona Red Lime Marmalade and Heavenly Habanero Jelly), syrups, orange blossom honey, fruit jelly candy and quick mixes for breads and pastries (paired with accompanying preserves).
But they are best known for their flagship line of prickly pear products. Cheri says her company was the first to achieve organic certification for cactus, which took three years. During July and August, her staff hand picks about 35 tons of prickly pear fruit during a six-week window. They do their best to maximize every bit of it as they process a ton and a half of fruit a day. First, the fruit is cleaned, steamed and pressed to extract the juice, which is filtered and frozen. It is used to make jellies, syrups, marmalades and candies throughout the year.
Rather than discarding the seeds that are left over from this process, Cheri’s team cleans and dries them, then expresses an oil that is high in anti-oxidants and anti-aging properties and perfect for the cosmetic industry. And the waste from that is made into biscuits for zoo animals.
They donate whatever plant waste is left to the University of Arizona’s Compost Cats, a student-run organization that collects food scraps and processes them into usable compost. And, of course, Cheri buys their compost to fertilize the company’s gardens. “It is from nature back to nature,” she says.
Cheri’s products have been certified kosher by Rabbi Yossi Shemtov from Chabad Tucson since last summer. She decided to look into kosher certification when a national client expressed interest in incorporating her prickly pear syrup into their end product, but couldn’t because it wasn’t kosher certified. A friend gave her Rabbi Shemtov’s name. “He was so receptive and came right over. We went through the process and, at the end of the day, he said, ‘You’re really kosher. We just need to get you certified.’ I was already using all kosher ingredients. He made the process very easy and has really educated us along the way. We’ve been very appreciative of his time and energy and knowledge,” Cheri says.
Sales for Cheri’s Desert Harvest have spread from local stores to national and international markets. But you can still find her products close to home in natural food stores, high-end groceries, gift shops, airports and national parks throughout the southwest. You can also order them through her website at cherisdesertharvest.com.
