Orasella was born on a rare snowy Seattle evening when two long-time friends determined that all craft cocktails deserved the artisan cherries they had perfected and enjoyed. But the story actually begins almost 20 years before...
On a hot August day in Indiana, two fresh-faced 18 year olds arrived on campus at the University of Notre Dame.
Anne Iasella SanGiovanni had traveled from a farm in Yakima, Washington, one of the premier cherry-producing regions of the country. Heidi Orde Stender grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, knowing not one single thing about cherries, but taught to track a wounded deer in a pinch. They were assigned housing in the same small dormitory and quickly became friends, not knowing that their friendship would continue nearly three decades and counting.
Both friends eventually settled in Seattle, living just a few blocks apart. Anne's path led her to a graduate degree in design and a career in interactive marketing at one of Seattle’s top agencies. Heidi worked as a Boeing aerospace engineer and lawyer. Bonded by a shared passion for cooking the two friends would host a weekly dinner party where their families would gather, enjoy a meal and, of course, a cocktail.
As time went on, their meals increasingly featured produce from Anne’s Yakima family farm. The occasional bag of apples, transported back from family gatherings, turned into bags of apples, peaches and pears. Consumed with fresh produce, the two friends began to put their preservation and large batch cooking skills to work.
What started out as a hobby eventually became an operation as the two friends preserved hundreds of jars annually. The excitement hit a new height when Anne scored a couple of boxes of cherries from her brother’s newly planted orchard. Heidi quickly went to work scouring her sources for the perfect recipe.
That’s when they found it. A lost artifact. A centuries-old Italian recipe for the maraschino cherry unlike anything they had tasted before.
Upon sampling this earliest recipe, Anne and Heidi looked at each other. “This is so good, why is no one doing this?” And Orasella’s first and signature product was born.
These days, Anne runs the company while Heidi serves as legal advisor.
In 2024, Orasella began national distribution, expanded more broadly up-and-down the West Coast and introduced our Tiki and Botanical varieties - completing the set of cherries designed for classic cocktails.
What’s next? Well, there’s a whole lot of amazing produce in Washington State just waiting to find its way to your next cocktail, recipe or gathering. See you there!
