Want fruit with that burger?

Middle Eastern cuisine often includes fruit. Dates, apricots, and figs are common ingredients. The savory-sweet combination is commonly found in Moroccan tagines. In 2005, it showed up in the BBB contest's winning burger, which featured dried apricots and dates in a flavorful burger.

Adding fruit to burgers "adds a little moisture and a nice texture and a little sweetness." McNair says. "And I think people are trying to get more fruits and vegetables into their diet."

Although you may not readily find a fruit burger on most restaurant menus, McNair says, that's no reason they won't start gaining interest from home cooks. "We're sort of ... starting the home trend [now]. I think home cooks are more adventuresome than chefs."

An Internet search turns up fruit burger recipes from amateur chefs featuring everything from pineapple to prunes.

Cookbook author Linda Dannenberg traces her fruit burger inspiration back to childhood. She grew up in Newton, Mass., where a favorite food was blueberry muffins topped with crusted sugar, a recipe from the Jordan Marsh department store.

This led to her trying many other ways to use blueberries. As an adult, she collected her favorites into a book of blueberry recipes, "True Blueberry," which includes directions for making blueberry salsa and a blueberry burger.

The taste of Ms. Dannenberg's blueberry burger – a combination of beef and ground-up, freeze-dried blueberries – surprised even her husband and 21-year-old son, who were hesitant to try the burger at first.

"Neither of them were enthusiastic about ... blueberries in a burger," she says. But the subtle, slightly sweet flavor changed their minds.

Adding fruit to meat isn't a weekly occurrence at the Dannenberg household, but she occasionally makes a cranberry turkey meatloaf loaded with a cup of dried cranberries.

"It's the acidity that's a nice complement to the richness of the beef," she says.

Home cooks who are doubtful about stuffing a burger with fruit might want to try glazing burgers with jam, marmalade, or various chutneys, which form a sweet, "very nice exterior glossy, tasty finish," says McNair, who occasionally cooks up his own fruit burgers at home.

Fruit burgers at school

Outside the home, fruit burgers are making an appearance in school cafeterias. Several years ago, two or three Texas schools served blueberry burgers on a trial basis, according to Al Bushway, professor of food science at the University of Maine.

More recently, the University of Maine has been conducting research for a soy-based veggie burger made with blueberry purée, which they hope to market to the general public.

Cherry burgers have also made their way into the school lunch system. In Cedar, Mich., Ray Pleva, a butcher, has been selling cherry-meat products since February 1988. Recently, he's been distributing cherry burgers to more than 400 schools across the US. And like the Mar-a-Lago burger, Mr. Pleva's cherry burger has appeared on the Oprah show.

The spark to start his business came after his daughter won a National Cherry Queen Competition. To help bolster the cherry industry, he created his unique line of cherry-based products.

His company adds a cherry powder, made from ground-up tart cherries, to 91 percent lean, ground sirloin. The powder is easier to distribute in the burgers than cherries themselves. He touts the nutritional value of the burgers as well as the added moisture. Adding cherries also doubles the shelf life, Pleva says.

Whether you add dried or fresh fruit, blueberries or apples, fruit burgers are on the cutting edge. Currently, restaurant menus are touting gourmet burgers made from prized Kobe beef, ground brisket, or meat from short ribs.

Who knows? Perhaps fruit burgers will be next.

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