Add Tart Cherries to School Meals

Montmorency tart cherries are included on the USDA Foods Available list, offering school nutrition professionals endless opportunities to add a burst of bright color and on-trend taste to school meals. Frozen IQF, dried and unsweetened canned tart cherries have wide applications in school meals – including breakfasts, lunches, snacks, suppers and summer food service programs.

We’ve created resources to make it easy to add tart cherries to your school foodservice program. These versatile, kid-pleasing and easy-to-use fruits have year-round appeal.

You’ll find purchasing and handling information, fun facts, four kid-tested recipes and more than two dozen other ideas for serving tart cherries in school meals.

Check out these easy and delicious ways to use these USDA foods on school meals:

• Pancake Parfait with Tart Cherries is a unique and versatile new concept for K-12 school breakfast programs, including cafeteria, grab-and-go and breakfast in the classroom service.
• Tart Cherry Pancake Bar is a super simple, speed-scratch recipe with the fruit and syrup built into the bar.
• Tart Cherry Chicken Salad is a tasty combination of chicken and cherries for a sandwich or entrée salad.
• Cherry-Q Dipping Sauce is a cherry-infused low-sodium BBQ sauce for chicken fingers or nuggets.

Download our tart cherry school foodservice toolkit, where you’ll find purchasing and handling information, fun facts, four kid-tested recipes and more than two dozen other ideas for serving tart cherries in school meals

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