I keep things simple with my chokecherry jelly. If you’re going to go through the trouble of foraging chokecherries in the first place, you might as well truly savor their unique flavor (rather than try to hide it). Most chokecherry jelly recipes start out with a boatload of sugar, then toss in plenty of commercial pectin and finish with a splash of chokecherry juice for color. That’s part of the fun, learning your particular patches’ quirks, and making a truly one of a kind chokecherry jelly. Others are still a bit astringent even when fully black. Some of the plants we frequent ripen fully at bright red and are quite sweet. Since they’re a wild fruit, all plants are a bit different, and they’ll all ripen at different stages. It’s tricky since raccoons and bears tend to strip the plants the second they’re ripe…check back frequently if you want to beat the wildlife. Taste a few, and if they’re incredibly bitter and sour, wait a bit longer.

The fruit clusters start out a bright red but usually ripen to a deep red or near-black color. Once you’re sure that you’ve found chokecherry shrubs, be sure to wait until they’re fully ripe. Still, be sure you’ve positively ID the plant before you begin. (They’re only vaguely similar to chokecherries, and hard to mistake if close up.) Watch out for plants like buckthorn (also black small black fruits) and invasive honeysuckle (bright red fruits), they ripen at the same time as chokecherries but are born singularly on the shrubs. If they give your tongue and taste buds a thrill ride, then chokecherries it is, and those will make an epic chokecherry jelly. If they taste like cherries, that’s what you’ve got, and they’re best fresh. If you’re not sure if you have black cherry or chokecherry, give the fruit a taste. They’re a tasty edible, actually a bit tastier out of hand than chokecherries. Around these parts, black cherries are sweet but relatively bland, and they don’t make nearly as interesting a jelly. Their closest look-alike is wild black cherry and though the plants look similar, the fruit has a somewhat different taste. Identifying chokecherries is generally simple since they grow in clusters from distinctive shrubs. Since they’re naturally high in pectin, it’s easy to make your own jelly (or jam) with just sugar and a splash of lemon juice.Īs one of the most common hedgerow fruits, wild chokecherries are easy to forage in great quantity. Chokecherry jelly is a tasty wild foraged preserve that you just can’t buy in the store.

12.5 cups to gallons