Rows of cherry trees in white blossom under a spring sky.

Earnscleugh Valley · Since 1961

Central Otago cherries, kept for the rest of the year.

A short season, and too much good fruit going to waste.

The Central Otago cherry season lasts about eight weeks. After Christmas the price collapses, and fruit that's as good as anything sold in December goes unpicked.

We started Southern Grown in 2025 to change that: take that fruit at its best, freeze-dry it, and make something that lasts.

The Roberts family handpick the cherries at Roberts Family Fruit in the Earnscleugh Valley, where they have farmed since 1961, and the Crossan family freeze-dry them in Oamaru.

How it's made

From the tree to the pack.

Seven steps, from blossom at Roberts Family Fruit to a pack you can open in July.

Spring · Earnscleugh Valley
Blossom

Every season starts in spring, when the orchard at Roberts Family Fruit flowers. Each cherry in the pack begins as one of these.
The Roberts family
Summer
Ripe on the tree

The fruit ripens through the Central Otago summer. The picking season lasts about eight weeks, then it's over for another year.
The Roberts family
Harvest
Picked by hand

The Roberts family pick every cherry by hand, at its ripest.
The Roberts family
Same week
Washed, sorted and pitted

The Roberts family wash, sort, stalk and pit the cherries by machine, then check them by hand, ready for drying.
The Roberts family
Oamaru
Freeze-dried

The Crossan family freeze the cherries, then draw the water out. The flavour stays, and the fruit turns crisp and light enough to keep.
The Crossan family
Crisp
Coated

Each freeze-dried cherry gets a coat of 66% dark chocolate or yoghurt.
Next working day
Packed and sent

Packed into 50g and 85g packs and sent across New Zealand the next working day after you order.
Wade Taylor and Jenny Hayes