I live in Illinois, but take 3-5 trips to the Ludington area every year, mostly doing volunteer work, and on every trip I drive up to Beulah to visit the Cherry Hut for a piece of their excellent cherry pie, several jars of cherry "products", and usually a pie or two. I've been making that trip since I was a kid and do not think that the cherry pie has ever changed. I think my first ever piece of cherry pie was consumed there... a treat from my father who was also a Cherry Hut devotee from HIS adolescence.
As to their cherry jam, my daughter simply calls it cherry crack
"The Cherry Hut recipe for pie is simple and basic. Of course, the cherries are from local trees."
Michael Stern
"Cheery Jerry, the cherry pie-faced boy, has been the mascot of this roadside stand for decades. For a short while years ago, the ventilation for the top crust of each pie was a quartet of cuts that were made to look like Jerry's eyes, nose and mouth. The artistry was abandoned because when the pies baked, the cherry juice leaked and it sometimes looked like Jerry was suffering a facial hemorrhage."
Michael Stern
"Health drink, Northern Michigan style: sweet Cherry Ade."
Michael Stern
"Sugar is heaped on tart cherries to make the filling for a Cherry Hut pie."
Michael Stern
"Each pie is made by hand from a recipe that dates back to the earliest days of the Cherry Hut, some eighty years ago."
Michael Stern
