🤦♀️🤦♀️ I have a choke cherry tree right outside my back door and all this time I had no idea I could do all these things with it. Next season I'll be a busy bee in my kitchen. New subscriber here.. thank you!
Currently brewing up my first batch of chokecherry mead. I've never used chokecherries before. I have been pretty nervous about making the juice correctly, as to not release the prussic acid. Trying to find the information elsewhere did not help. This video was fantastic. Everything was very simple and succinct. Turns out that I made the juice near identical in execution. Thank you so much!
I’m with you 💯 on the choke cherries! Love the tart taste. Excellent harvest this year! Even managed to get a gallon of plump black juicy sweeter ones. I have dozens of bushes in the mountains. Getting ready to make syrup and wine today. Thank you for the info! Especially reminding me of the cyanide properties. Although minimal, my ducks discovered the choke cherries this year.
Pick them every year and the first year we did jam. Ended up with almost 200 jars of jam and still have left from the first year. Gave away so many figured might as well make wine this season. Heck just went today and got 6.2 pounds
Great vid! I collected the berries when they were still rather tart, in early August. They are still tasty!! You can cook them in a crock pot on low for 8-16 hours. For the juice, great to use in green juice recipes, or, the way I use it most, is to make gummy jelly "candy" with stevia and gelatin (agar agar works as well). Thanks for your channel- love foraging myself :)
I've watched some other videos and some are picking them when they are more red/less ripe. Can they still be used for jelly when red? I think I screwed up and picked mine too early. I'm hoping I could still use them. Or at least mix them with more ripe ones?
I found a little CC tree that I found on my property last year. 1st time trying them, kinda bitter. Im Gonna try an start one from a seed, Or should I'd just clone the tree?
for sure alittle bitter, but one can acquire the taste - and if you get them after the frost they are much much better! You could start from seed - will take quite a while to go to fruit, so either find a bush started or clone as you say.
Is there anything you can do if you have a tree where all the cherries are to high to reach them without a ladder and you don't want to use a ladder? Are there any tools that you could use to reach them?
You can purchase apple & cherry pickers; but, what I did was on the cheep. I just took a two-litre plastic milk jug and attached it to an old broom handle, then just cut a front opening with slots at the edge to grab the stems. Check out how to make them on Pinterest or UA-cam.
@@MsK-xm7vw That sounds like a good idea. I've searched online for ways to pick choke cherries, or regular cherries from the ground before, but I could never find anything. You should make a video on how you made your milk jug contraption, if you haven't already. You should show how you use it in the video, too. I would love to see that. I think an apple picker wouldn't work because it would be to big. The problem I have now is the birds, though. It's hard to get any choke cherries because the birds eat them all and the tree is way to big to put a net over it.
you can. My experience with putting the seed fragments in the fruit leather is that they end up being quite crunchy in the leather and take away from the texture and enjoyment of it. So ideally I would just add the fruit pulp. enjoy! - malcolm
I just picked al couple that were identified as chokecherries but tasted just like a sweet cherry, not bitter or astringent at all. So now I'm wondering if it really was a chokecherry. Any other ideas?
may have been... everyone has a different palette as to what is bitter. If you have a book you can check out other defining characteristics to get a positive ID.
I've only personally seen the red ones, which are very sweet. Now that I've watched the video, I want to learn how to identify the black/purple ones. I'm also confused because what I've always identified as Choke Cherries are not the same as what I'm seeing here.
Native Americans *still* use chokecherries. You talk about them like it is past tense - "Native Americans used to use chokecherries for" such and such. They are still here, and they still use them. Talk about them in the present tense.
![Wild Chokecherry - In Surival & Wilderness Living [Fruit Leather, Jam, Juice, Raw]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WTwXwSjOdbM/mqdefault.jpg)
🤦♀️🤦♀️ I have a choke cherry tree right outside my back door and all this time I had no idea I could do all these things with it. Next season I'll be a busy bee in my kitchen. New subscriber here.. thank you!
yes! love it
Currently brewing up my first batch of chokecherry mead. I've never used chokecherries before. I have been pretty nervous about making the juice correctly, as to not release the prussic acid. Trying to find the information elsewhere did not help. This video was fantastic. Everything was very simple and succinct. Turns out that I made the juice near identical in execution. Thank you so much!
I’m with you 💯 on the choke cherries! Love the tart taste. Excellent harvest this year! Even managed to get a gallon of plump black juicy sweeter ones. I have dozens of bushes in the mountains. Getting ready to make syrup and wine today. Thank you for the info! Especially reminding me of the cyanide properties. Although minimal, my ducks discovered the choke cherries this year.
Love chokecherry jam.
THANK YOU
Pick them every year and the first year we did jam. Ended up with almost 200 jars of jam and still have left from the first year. Gave away so many figured might as well make wine this season. Heck just went today and got 6.2 pounds
Great video! Thank you.
Thank youso much for the post
Can you put them through a juicer? Or do you have to pick out seeds before juicing them?
best to pick out seeds before running through a juicer at least as it may damaged the juicer.
Great vid! I collected the berries when they were still rather tart, in early August. They are still tasty!! You can cook them in a crock pot on low for 8-16 hours. For the juice, great to use in green juice recipes, or, the way I use it most, is to make gummy jelly "candy" with stevia and gelatin (agar agar works as well). Thanks for your channel- love foraging myself :)
I've watched some other videos and some are picking them when they are more red/less ripe. Can they still be used for jelly when red? I think I screwed up and picked mine too early. I'm hoping I could still use them. Or at least mix them with more ripe ones?
more ripe the better, they will be sweeter, however you could still use and or mix like you are suggesting. - enjoy!
Where can I get the chokecherries I live in Ohio thanks
Maybe you can find some on public land. I'm up in Michigan, saw some growing in a local park, and planning to harvest there in a couple months
Could I buy some from you
Thanks.
What do you do with the leftover berries after you juice them? Are they no longer useful after juicing?
Question... If I plant the seeds, can they grow into a viable fruit producing tree or bush?
I found a little CC tree that I found on my property last year. 1st time trying them, kinda bitter. Im Gonna try an start one from a seed, Or should I'd just clone the tree?
for sure alittle bitter, but one can acquire the taste - and if you get them after the frost they are much much better! You could start from seed - will take quite a while to go to fruit, so either find a bush started or clone as you say.
Isn't the pit poisonous in large quantities?
it is true, but you would have to consume quite a lot. Plus, when heated the cyanide is no longer an issue.
How much cyanide is in the fruit leather?
Great video! I have a question. I thought it wasn't safe to eat the pits. Does something change when you dehydrate it? Thank you!
wonderful, glad you enjoyed! great question regarding pits - it is when you heat them that you deactivate the cyanide.
Is there anything you can do if you have a tree where all the cherries are to high to reach them without a ladder and you don't want to use a ladder? Are there any tools that you could use to reach them?
You can purchase apple & cherry pickers; but, what I did was on the cheep. I just took a two-litre plastic milk jug and attached it to an old broom handle, then just cut a front opening with slots at the edge to grab the stems. Check out how to make them on Pinterest or UA-cam.
@@MsK-xm7vw That sounds like a good idea. I've searched online for ways to pick choke cherries, or regular cherries from the ground before, but I could never find anything. You should make a video on how you made your milk jug contraption, if you haven't already. You should show how you use it in the video, too. I would love to see that. I think an apple picker wouldn't work because it would be to big. The problem I have now is the birds, though. It's hard to get any choke cherries because the birds eat them all and the tree is way to big to put a net over it.
When you make the juice can you put the left over pulp and seeds in with the ones you are blending to make leather so as not to waste anything.
you can. My experience with putting the seed fragments in the fruit leather is that they end up being quite crunchy in the leather and take away from the texture and enjoyment of it. So ideally I would just add the fruit pulp. enjoy! - malcolm
I just picked al couple that were identified as chokecherries but tasted just like a sweet cherry, not bitter or astringent at all. So now I'm wondering if it really was a chokecherry. Any other ideas?
may have been... everyone has a different palette as to what is bitter. If you have a book you can check out other defining characteristics to get a positive ID.
@@thelightcellar Thanks!
I've only personally seen the red ones, which are very sweet. Now that I've watched the video, I want to learn how to identify the black/purple ones. I'm also confused because what I've always identified as Choke Cherries are not the same as what I'm seeing here.
The leaf has a distinctful sawtooth edge on it. Google “Images of chokecherries” and it’ll show the berry and the leaf and the bark of the tree.
@@MsK-xm7vw There are several varieties of chokecherry, some mature to a red berry others are almost black.
Choke cherries are edible with the help of lots of sugar.
Native Americans *still* use chokecherries. You talk about them like it is past tense - "Native Americans used to use chokecherries for" such and such. They are still here, and they still use them. Talk about them in the present tense.
the seeds are not good to eat I was told
they do contain a very small amount of toxin in them, but is neautralized by heat.
How to identify a chokecherry tree would've been helpful
I thought the seeds were poisonous
You shouldn’t eat the seeds. They have cyanide in them.
If you were any slower you’d be going backwards