[Recipe] Chokecherries are in and juiced...

It was a good year for choke cherries, with moisture at the right time and then hot and dry for them to ripen.

Chokecherries grow plentiful right in our yard. I find them to be one of the easiest berries to pick. You can just rake them right into the pail.

The drawback with choke cherries is they have a pit in them which contains hydrocyanic acid. This acid can be neutralized by cooking or drying making it safe to eat.

To dry the chokecherries, put them out on screens in the sun and dry for use in the winter. You can pound these dried berries to make a flour for seasoning puddings and meat dishes. The freshly ground flour has a sort of almond taste. As it gets older it has a sort of chocolaty taste and is good to use in making a hot chocolate type drink.

Another traditional way of drying chokecherries is to grind the whole fruit, pit and all, and form them into patties which are set out in the sun to dry. They can also be dried in a dehydrator, leaving about 1/2 inch space between the patties. Chokecherries take about 12-16 hours to dry. Every 2-3 hours flip the patties for more even drying. Combine the dried chokecherries with dried meat and lard to make pemmican

Pemmican

Ingredients:

4 oz. dried beef or buffalo, not seasoned
1 cup dried chokecherries (other dried fruits can be substituted)
3 Tbsp. melted lard or butter

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process jerky until it is in small pieces.
2. Add dried chokecherries and process until fruit is cut into smaller pieces and is mixed well with the jerky
3. Melt the butter or lard and add to the meat and berry mixture in the food processor. Process several short pulses until well mixed.
4. Grease a 9 x13 inch pan with 1 Tbsp. butter or lard
5. Use a spatula to press the pemmican into a thin layer in the pan. cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate.
6. When chilled cut into small pieces.

In the old days the chokecherries were ground with stones but now a days they can be ground with either electric or hand meat grinders, running them through a few times until it is a fine consistency.

Steam Juicer with Chokecherry Juice

A quick way for me to process the chokecherries is with my steam juicer. I simply wash my berries and put them in the top compartment, put some water in the bottom compartment and put it on the stove to steam the juice out of the berries. The juice drips into the middle compartment and comes out the spout into my canning jars piping hot.

I add this juice to my morning smoothie which consists of a big handful of blueberries, small handful of hemp hearts, ground cacao nibs, heaping teaspoon honey and some water. If I don't add the chokecherry juice I add peppermint extract. This is all blended together and is delicious!

The juice can also be made into jams jellies and syrups. Delicious!