For parties and get togethers I like to put out some fruit as part of the nibbles, sometimes after the meal and sometimes before. To make the fruit just a little bit tastier a dip is a wonderful way to enhance the sweetness of the fruit.

This Maraschino cherry dip has a sweet and tangy flavor that compliments your favorite fruits beautifully. What I enjoy about this recipe, aside from the taste, is that it’s a “want not waste not” sort of recipe. To make this yummy dip you use up the leftover Maraschino cherry liquid after you’ve used the cherries. I had some left from when I made these excellent chocolate-covered cherries.

That liquid is the super-sweet sugar syrup that’s used to preserve the cherries. As the cherries sit in the mixture the syrup also takes on some of that cherry flavor. Rather than throw it down the drain I looked for ways to use it up.

You can of course also use this syrup to make cocktails with, but a fruit dip is something that the entire family can enjoy. Plus, it gives you a reason to eat fruit!

The other ingredients in this recipe that make it super tasty are a little bit of cream cheese and some vanilla yogurt. For the yogurt I used a triple cream vanilla bean yogurt. This makes it extra rich and you can see the specks of vanilla in the dip!

There’s also a few chopped up cherries in the dip and for a festive garnish I also added some whole Maraschino cherries on top as well.

This fruit dip is great with strawberries, melon, pineapple, apples, pears, and many other kinds of fruit. But, I like to lay out some graham crackers and pretzels with it, too, for a bit of crunch and contrast. There’s nothing quite like a sweet-salty duo!