We took a nature walk in the small Southern California town of Oak Glen last weekend. The scenic area is known for its apple orchards, but we stumbled upon something quite different: chokecherries!
Along the trail, we noticed two boys gathering plump purple berries from the branches of some tall shrubs. When asked whether the berries were edible, one of them cheerfully responded, "These are poison berries! My grandpa likes them." Slightly alarmed and quite intrigued, we located Grandma, who gave us the full scoop.
Grandma explained that they were actually called chokecherries and warned us that they were not very tasty right off the tree but could be cooked down into a beautiful fuchsia-colored jam. She had been coming to the same spot to pick chokecherries for 40 years! While she'd never encountered anyone else foraging for chokecherries, she did know that local bears and birds shared her family's taste for the berries.
Of course, we couldn't resist picking a small bag for ourselves and did some more research as soon as we got home. It turns out that chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) grow wild throughout much of North America and are the official state fruit of North Dakota. Closely related to the black cherry, the red and purple berries are used to make jam, jelly, syrup, and wine. (Caution: Like cherries and apricots, the pits contain hydrocyanic acid and should not be consumed.)
The jam we made was tart and astringent and similar to cranberries. On its own, it was rather intense, but the astringency was tempered when served with butter on toast. We were admittedly more enchanted by the color than the flavor, but we look forward to foraging for chokecherries again and experimenting with other recipes.
More information:
• Chokecherry, from Forager's Harvest
• Chokecherry, from USDA
Recipes:
• Chokecherry Jam, from High Altitude Gardening
• Chokecherry Juice, Vinegar, Syrup, Jelly, Jam, Liqueur, and Wine, from ASHE
• Wild Chokecherry Wine, from The Winemaking Home Page
Products:
• All Chokecherries, All the time, from Maple River Winery in North Dakota
Related: Found Food: Do You Forage for Food?
(Images: Gregory Han and Emily Ho)
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I discovered chokecherries last year. Another great urban fruit. I love that the chokecherry season begins when the juneberry season ends. So they pick up where the juneberry leaves off so to speak.
I made some syrup with the chokeberries here:
http://thepleasanthouse.com/2008/08/11/urban-prairie-foraging-looking-at-your-surroundings-in-a-new-way-black-chokeberry-syrup-recipe/
@art In my research, I learned that chokecherries are actually different from chokeberries. (Read more on Wikipedia.) But I loved seeing your post and photos!
I've lived in North Dakota all my life and have always looked forward to chokecherry season! We all grew up on homemade chokecherry jelly. It also makes a delicious syrup for icecream or pancakes!
@Emily Ho: EEk! Thanks for pointing that out. My mistake! Indeed, two unrelated things.
Whee! As another North Dakota native, I grew up with chokecherry jelly and syrup made by my grandma and great-aunts. It's delicious with peanut butter on toast! : )
It's also a very unique flavor. The jellies and syrups we ate were quite sweet, but had this smooth/mellow/somehow still bitter aftertaste that's unlike anything else I've ever tasted.
This post sure is bringing back some memories!
Great chokecherry memories from my Canadian prairie childhood. My mother and grandmothers made a sweetish milk-based soup from chokecherries. It was inelegant to eat (all those seeds, dontchaknow) but I loved it. I've made chokecherry jelly and like it better than the jam. You can also make a jelly with chokecherries and apples or some other fruit that is a little less intensely flavoured.
I think it might be a little difficult to really enjoy chokecherries if you didn't eat them as a child. They have a bit of an unusual flavour.