I steamed the chokecherries...it makes the whole house smell wonderful ! I got 14 cups of juice from 2 1/2 ice cream pails of fruit. That will make 24 plus jars of jelly someday when it is cool or next Fall.
This is a bucket before the berries have been washed. The berries are tiny...I wash them in a bucket and swirl the berries around loosening the debris and leaves that float to the top, I keep adding water until the bucket overflows into the catch strainer in the sink...after a while your berries are all washed and ready to steam.
Chokecherries smell awesome...it is a one of a kind smell...heavy and fruity. Far Guy says it is a sweet smell and you would never guess how tart they are when eaten raw. He just looked up what Google says...bitter sweet smell similar to the aroma of cyanide of bitter almonds. The pit inside a chokecherry contains amygdalin which when ingested converts to cyanide. If you eat enough pits it will kill you. However birds, deer and bear are not affected....other animals like dogs, horses and cows will die if enough seeds are ingested.
You wouldn't eat the pit of a cherry or a pit of an apricot...they are also poisonous.
Far Side
We used to try and eat them as we picked them and always spit out the seeds.
ReplyDeleteGrandma made amazing jello with them that had an odd not...sweet taste too. I haven't had chokecherry jelly in ages!
We don't have many of those trees around...or I can't recognize them!
so cool!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever had them! Good work.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the pits were poisonous, but I must have been told not to eat the pits when I was a child. We did eat a few berries, I recall the pucker!
ReplyDeleteYummo!! Those look absolutely delicious, Connie. I'll bet the jelly will be divine. ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI can't figure out why I'm not getting your posts. When I sign up again is says I am there. Oh, well. I will just visit anyway
ReplyDeleteI love choke cherries. we have them here but don't pick them.
ReplyDeleteI've never tasted or smelled chokecherries cooking. I will take your word for it and maybe look for a jar of jelly so I can taste them. :-)
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that chokecherry pits could kill you of you ate enough of them.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of jelly! I've never eaten one.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a good plot for an Agatha Christie book. Slowly digesting poison would be bad. We were told they were poison but I bet my parents didn't know what part that it was. When do you separate the seeds from the fruit?
ReplyDeleteI've never had these and I'm not sure I would recognize the tree. I experimented with various wild fruit when spouse and I lived in rural Arkansas - we had wild strawberries (YUM), elderberries and even small wild persimmons available to us, but I don't remember chokecherries.
ReplyDeleteNow I know why you make jelly and not jam with the berries! I believe apple pips also contain cyanide and we were always told not to eat the whole core :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of chokecherries. I'd love to smell that aroma some time! Good job!
ReplyDeleteLD I have a steamer that steams out the juice, and then I throw the seeds away:)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about chokeberries and how deadly the pits can be. It's interesting that birds and deer are not affected by them while other animals are. Thank you for sharing all that information. Learned something new today!
ReplyDeleteAnd there they are, your choke cherry harvest. Yay for you!
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