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HOW TO USE YOUR CHOKECHERRIES
Chokecherry recipes start with juice.
Start all chokecherry recipes with juice. Create the juice by separating flesh from seeds, as outlined in steps 1-4 below. 1. Pick a mess of chokecherries. If you’re making multiple gathering trips, chokecherries can be stored in fridge or freezer until you’re ready to work with them. 2. Wash and remove big central stems and leaves. 3. In a large pot, add 4 parts chokecherries to 1 part water. Turn on heat and wait for any insects to float to top; remove. Simmer vigorously for 30-40 minutes with lid on, periodically crushing berries with a potato masher. 4. Let cool a few minutes. Strain juice by squeezing through cheesecloth, cotton shirt, jelly bag or strainer. Be aggressive; you want to get all the juice possible. Typically, you can extract 4 cups juice for every 10 cups berries. Now you have your chokecherry juice. You are ready to start. CHOKECHERRY JELLY
The writer’s daughter squeezes the juice from chokecherries, a messy job.
moose and other ungulates eat the leaves with no problem. OTHER USES According to the exhaustive tome Native American Ethnobotany, out of all native plants, the chokecherry tree rates second in having the greatest number of uses. This category of “other uses” is my favorite, as it begs the question: What was chokecherry not used for? There is a certain poetry to the practical: For the Okanagan tribe, ripe berries indicated that salmon were coming up river to spawn. Also, the leaves were used as a green dye, the berries as a purplish dye. The branches were used for arrow shafts, and the trunks for bows. The sap was used to fasten arrowheads to shafts, the leaves as a poultice for cuts. Branches were used as digging sticks and as tipi stakes. And the berries were mixed with bear fat for painting pictographs. My son’s godmother once told him that the letters he sent her were more valuable than gold. “Then if I give you letters, will you give me gold?” the 6-year old wondered. “No, honey,” she said, “They’re so valuable you can’t put a price on them.” This is exactly how I feel about the jars in my pantry packed with thick, magenta oceans of chokecherry jelly. Rachel Turiel is a professional writer who has lived in La Plata County for the past 17 years. She shares her experiences on her blog http://6512andgrowing.com. coloradocountrylife.coop
Mix juice with desired amount of sweetener, typically 1/3–1/2 cup sweetener to 1 cup chokecherry juice. Heat to a low simmer. Add the proper amount of pectin (follow directions on pectin box), bring to a hard boil for 2 minutes, stirring all the while. Remove from heat, ladle into jars. Can be safely waterbath canned. You can test the “set” by putting a spoonful of the jelly in the fridge. When it cools it will represent the jelly’s final consistency. CHOKECHERRY SYRUP Mix juice with desired amount of sweetener. (See previous chokecherry jelly recipe.) Pour into jars. Can be frozen or water-bath canned. May separate when cool, but perfectly good. CHOKECHERRY-APPLE FRUIT LEATHER Mix juice with wellblended applesauce, about 1:1. Spread about 1/8-inch thick on parchment paper on cookie trays and bring outside into the sun for two to four days. Leather should peel off easily.
More recipes at www.coloradocountrylife.coop AUGUST 2017
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