| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 4:46:06 PM
Just came back from exploring, and brought home ripe chokecherries . A quick search led to recipes for syrup, jam/jelly, pies, wine. Do you have a favorite recipe you use chokecherries in? Wondering how they would be dried, have any of you tried that? One website warned that the pits and leaves contain cyanide , and to be sure to pit before using. However, the fruit is full of antioxidants. What have you made with chokecherries and recommend?
We make a difference. |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| prairielandherbs |
Posted - Sep 14 2007 : 11:52:18 AM
I hear it Michelle, I am dancing to it too, lol! Did 9 - 8 0z pots of pesto last night (yay big freezer!), haven't even GOTTEN to the apple orchard yet!!!
mmmm...little farm in WA, sounds lovely!!! |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 09 2007 : 10:19:26 AM
Maggie, there's just the cutest farm for sale here.... :) And the frost didn't get us this year. We went out yesterday and brought home bucketsfull of chokecherries, apples, and the plums will be ready next week. Just when I have to get back to work, my favorite crops demand to be set by for winter...balancing act in progress. Can you hear the circus music? :)
We make a difference. |
| prairielandherbs |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 9:06:55 PM
oh, sorry, i should have clarified. Plus, I misspoke. It was actually a late frost this spring! It got warm early, actually, and the trees budded and flowered - then frost. aak! i have talked to several orchard owners who epxerinced 90-100% crop loss in their apples and cherries. so sad!
I normally would have chokecherries and wild plums like crazy, but they both got zapped by the frost. I have very few elderberries, and some grapes, and that is it!! :( let's hope for a bumper crop next year!
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| katie-ell |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 09:45:48 AM
Maggie -- was it an early frost (this fall) -- or a late frost (in the spring) that got your chokecherries? Or something else got 'em? I don't think the Midwest has had a frost just yet.
www.youaretoocreative.blogspot.com |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 09:34:00 AM
Maggie, that sounds really good. Sorry to hear about the early frost, wow, that is early! I think I'm going to fashion one of those fruit-reachers as shown in MJ's Ideabook and go after more that I couldn't reach in the top of the tree. I think a moose has been enjoying the crop too.
We make a difference. |
| prairielandherbs |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 06:04:51 AM
Mine got zapped by early frost - no chokecherries for me, bummer! I do have a recipe for a ciderberry jelly on my site that I really like :)
http://prairielandherbs.com/ciderberryjelly.htm
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| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 04 2007 : 10:20:10 PM
Okay, so the wilted leaves and pits of chokecherries contain hydrocyanic acid (cyanide). Took awhile to pit the tiny little things, but got it done. The fruit is full of antioxidants, so I kept telling myself it was worth the effort. That, and a memory of cooking them with my grandmother. I made chokecherry apple butter. DD loves it, and she has never liked my homemade apple sauce, so now we have "cherry applesauce". I hope some day she'll look back at these traditions I'm passing on from the women who shared them with me, and if she doesn't exactly remember how to do it, she gets the urge to find out like we're all doing here.
We make a difference. |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 10:55:06 PM
Okay, so I'll make you some jelly, Diane, and then we'll have to get our passports renewed lol. I'd love to come up for a weekend, swing my Marley Winery for some black currant wine... I just love your island! I'll start hinting to DH that it's time for another trip. I'm afraid that we'll just keep going and end up fishing in Alaska. Not a bad idea, but that would have to wait until next summer.
We make a difference. |
| DaisyFarm |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 10:20:41 PM
I actually have two very prolific CC bushes in my garden. They were *developed* to grow here on the coast (I bought them at a nursery). Unfortunately they have no flavor whatsoever. I did try a batch of jelly from them and while the guys loved it, I found it very bland and lacking. I guess I'm just spoiled by the wild ones we used to pick on the prairies when I was younger.
Thank you so much for the kind offer Michelle, how sweet. So...um...when are you coming?? lol.
Di |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 9:38:45 PM
Alison, well first you take a cherry, then...aaack. :) A chokecherry is a member of the rose family, though you'd never know it, except the flower has 5 petals. Also called wild cherry, they look like under developed cherries, and are tart, like if you crossed a pie cherry with a cranberry. They are a great ol' pioneering sort of food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokecherry
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PRVI
Diane, I'll just have to see if we have a trip back to Sidney anytime soon! Love it there. If we do come north, I'll certainly bring you something made with chokecherries. Don't you have any there?
JoAnn, that just is too funny. What are the odds?
We make a difference. |
| AliShuShu |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 6:44:53 PM
what the heck is a chokecherry???
Alison
I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. ~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace
Namaste'
www.shumusings.com |
| DaisyFarm |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 6:17:10 PM
Chokecherries bring back such great memories for me. I remember jelly bags hanging all around my grandmother's kitchen this time of year. CC's make the best jelly I have ever tasted. I wish you could send some across the border...I'd sure pay for some.
Di |
| Mountain Girl |
Posted - Sep 03 2007 : 5:07:44 PM
Funny you should mention this. Jim just came back from picking tons. He makes jam and of course wine. JoAnn |
