Review by Denise Kitashima Dutton: Dried cherries and dark chocolate. Two great tastes y’all. I’m not a chocolate covered berry kinda gal; the berry ends up mushy and the chocolate ends up damp. It’s a downer no matter how you look at it. But dried fruit covered in chocolate? Sign me up. Especially if we’re talking cherries, heaven on a stem.

These are tart dried cherries, not the Bing that you may find in gourmet groceries sold by the pound. Think of these as slightly larger Rasinets, but with a higher level pedigree. These bits are half the size of their larger counterparts, but have a lovely bite to them that blends well with the dark chocolate. That tart bite hits right in the jawline, tightening up the salivary glands as each bite is chewed.

The chocolate is serviceable, at 64% cacao. It blends so well with the tart of the cherries it’s difficult to distinguish itself as a solo performer. My only issue is the chocolate coating, with tends to crumble if you try to make each cherry a two-bite treat. If the chocolate were a bit thicker, it’d stand to such dental scrutiny and perhaps make its presence known a bit more, but as it is pieces of this coating threaten to fall onto the table more times than not. It’s a little thing – I could just pop ’em whole into my gaping maw – but I do enjoy biting into each piece. Double the satisfaction, right? Right.

Pair these with hot tea, coffee, or a nice wine (sparkling or no) for optimal enjoyment. If you want to take it to the next level, a liqueur or port would go nicely as well.

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now. She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour. Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fan Girl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.