On the property where i grew up we had two or three choke cherry trees. However my family knew nothing of how to process them. Long before Google, lol. So they were wasted. Im sad now that i hear they are so nutritious. After my father retired he did make jelly from them. It was delicious to me and my dad. My mother hated it so he never made it again. Thank your for all this wonderful information. I wish i had a bounty of those now to dye some yarn. Lovely color
Berry picking has got to be one of the best therapies if your under a lot of stress. A long time ago I was living under very stressful circumstances and became sleep deprived. A friend invited to their home were they had a wild blueberry bog in the yard. I slept from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m.ish , picked berries till 10:30. Took a 2/3 hour nape after lunch and repeated the process for 3 day's. Best therapy in the world. The best part was the blueberry cobbler we had for desert and breakfast with coffee.
Learn something new from you all the time Ariel ! So impressed with your skills ,you don't make it mundane , you keep your kitchen tidy , and you make this seem really easy !
We used to have chokecherry trees that grow on the field edges of are revealed and they grew about as plump as the from the first joint on my little finger and my Hyster pick about 800 pounds of them summer and we sold them and they made syrup Jam all kinds of stuff from them they're very delicious
I really like your cooking videos. Your place is so cozy. I think cooking is more enjoyable when the weather turns colder. Look forward to seeing the first snowfall there.
They're cool, I ate them stones and all when I was young and never had any problems health wise...my sister used to forage wild cranberries for our Thanksgiving which in Canada is in October, it's very labor intensive as the cranberries are in swampy bogs, they are the size of the chokecherry, but worth the effort for the Thanksgiving meal .
It looks like you have wild cranberries in with your choke cherries (the lighter coloured ones). When I was young I played in the bush lots and would stop and eat any berry that was in season, well not much has changed I guess as I still forage berries while I am out. Frozen wild cranberries are a nice treat while out snowshoeing!! The partridge love them also.
I love cranberries too! But as far as I know, there are not any that grow in this area. These were definitely a cherry variety of some kind based on bush shape, bark, leaves, flavor, and pits.
I have made jelly from the dark (almost black) chokecherries .... it has been over 20 years since though. It was done when I lived in the U.P. of Michigan where you could find groves and groves of these trees. Never found any of the lighter varieties, although there could have been some and I wrote them off as not being ripe. For my taste buds, that was the richest cherry jelly I've ever had, and nothing since has even come close. Never thought about making any juice from it back then, but would prolly been very good as well. It was great having access to such abundance in those days. Take care.
I think the light ones must be rare in most areas. The handful of neighboring bushes I found that were light were the only ones I've ever seen as far as I know. And I've seen thousands of the dark ones.
Love your videos as always. I love learning about your off-grid journey. My family picked berries all season long and my mom made and canned jams, jellies and juices from them all. I agree with you about it being so lovely to berry pick with a friend. My mom and I had some great conversations, especially during my teens when I was not the most agreeable person. I did the same thing with my kids...when they were going through a difficult non-communicative period, I would take them for a walk in the woods, or we would go pick berries. It was a non-pressure time to talk and also was constructive. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful times. Please continue to share your adventures with us, I live vicariously through yours. Cheers, Michele
My mom had a bag she made of the same material. Just easier to fill with pulp. After squeezing it she would hand it over a pot overnight to let it drip through.
The sumac bush with the red seed pods make a nice tart drink. Its kind of like a mix of cranberry and some blackberry. Pluck or cut them off the bush. In a tub, use a fork to scrape the seeds off the pine-like stem inside, and into a large bowl. Cover to the top of the seeds with water and let them soak a few hours or overnight, and occasionally squeeze-mash them. Strain the juice out with some type of strainer. A cloth works good for this. Put seeds back into the area where you gathered them. This juice can be reduced by heat evaporation to make a redish-pink food color and flavoring such as for icing.
@@FyNyth ok. It seems to be alot of it in Pa here, and I guess the east coast. Its considered to be somewhat a nuissance plant/bush/tree (perhaps up to 30ft). It us generally avoided due to the fear of a rash and/or being poisonous. I think the sumac with the white berries is poisonous, but I havent even seen it yet around here. Im guessing there might be some fungus issues late in the season, but the acid or vitamin C in the juice probably reduces it. Hot water could also reduce it. I only made 1 batch this summer.
We had chokecherries growing abundantly in our neighborhood in CT when I was a kid. We never made anything from them though because they were so bitter, what a shame we wasted them.
Ariel, It always seems that there is more juice that can come out that you can't get. I would always try several ways to get more with the pulp from a juicer. Are you going to try to make chokecherry pudding the native traditional way? I would like to get some pits to start some trees where I live. It seems like you have a lot of wild eatable stuff growing around you.
I didn't get to any chokecherry pudding this year. You mean the pounded and dried berries kind of like a fruit leather I assume? I've got some seeds for you once they dry out!
Thank-you. I was talking about the pudding that the Native Americans would make. There was student that did a science fair project about the pudding that used the seeds included that had good health benefits
Love your cooking videos! I actually enjoy cooking dinner along with these videos... sounds strange but I hate cooking (though I like high quality/nutritious/homemade food) and so TH-cam helps pass the time in the kitchen ;) I have tried a few of your recipes and enjoy them as well as just the general inspiration on how to use fresh, seasonal produce.
Wonderful! I'm glad it inspires you and that you value good food enough to do that even if it's not your favorite thing! I hope someday you enjoy it more. :)
Have you ever used a steam juicer? Seems like it would work well with chokecherries. I once used a borrowed one to make nice clear grape juice. Perhaps if you spread the word on your local network you could locate one to borrow too! :)
I've heard of them, but never used one. I think I may be the only person in my whole area who does much of this stuff... At least I don't know anyone else who lives around here who cans and such. :)
interesting video. A couple of observations; 1. you could build yourself a small press to squeeze the juice out. 2. I have been told that heating it kills the vitamin C.??? 3. It may be easier to do several small batches because the whole lot in the big pot is difficult to manage. 4. Perhaps once you have most of the juice you could ferment the rest of the 'muck' to make wine. It would be good to be able to get all the pulp and just throw the seeds in the compost. Just a few ideas for you.
I could. Someday I'd like to have a cider press, but I don't know how well that would work with something this small. Cooking reduces the amount of vitamin C somewhat for sure - www.livestrong.com/article/547867-what-does-cooking-do-to-vitamin-c/ . Wine making is not something I've taken up yet, but wouldn't mind adding to my life at some point if I have time.
We used to make chokecherry jam every year. Always that beautiful fuschia color! YUM--not too sweet, just nice and tart! Also, you would have to chew the pits to get cyanide poisoning, and most people's GI tract won't break down the pits if swallowed whole
That has to be the most beautiful and unique colored juice I've ever seen! I wonder what that would taste like in a Kombucha?? Maybe mixed with something else like ginger or mint or something smooth like a melon? Jelly sounds like it would be great. As a kid in WA state, there was a similar berry we were told not to eat as kids - the bush was different, shorter and diff leaves, but the fruit looks almost exactly like the chokecherry. I'll have to take another look around the woods here in spring for the right bushes.
There is a rim near me where the water table is exposed near the top. It's a real steep sandstoneish like a talus slope that has some soil in it, with sagebrush and cedars, for four to eight hundred feet up, then the last two hundred feet or so is limestone and straight up. It is over a hundred miles long if you consider the edge as it snakes in and out. Often, up under where the limestone cliff meets the steep slope, is where it leaks. Large areas will have water oozing out. Directly below where it leaks is where the chokecherries grow -- millions of bushes of them. It's quite a hike climbing that slope that's almost too steep to stand on, but I swear, those chokecherries up there taste so much better than any I've ever had from the bushes (domestic ? IDK) that grow down around the farms. Well, I shouldn't say "tastes better", they are extremely tart, almost too tart to eat, I should say make the best tasting jelly and pie fillings. They are smaller berries, all really dark purplish black, than the lower ones in the farms and creek bottoms . IDK if it's a different varietal, sub species, or just a different phenotype from the micro climate, and cold irrigation up there, but I made that climb many times in the fall, and hauled many down for my mother to make jelly, syrup, and pies. I learned from my dad young how to not end up making the hike before they were good and ripe. We'd be out fixing fence or riding and checking cattle, and he'd point out a bright purple, seedy, coyote turd and tell me, "Looks like the chokecherries up on the rim are ready".
You use those flour bags for everything, don't you? I remember my mom telling me, when she was a kid, she would use them to make herself pajamas. Considering how useful they are, I wish we could still get the cloth ones here.
You mentioned that you could sweeten them with honey so I just wondered if you have bee hives in your garden. Great for pollination and you could collect the honey over time.
them there berries are called 'teeth straighteners' in my neck a the woods ortrodonpricks are not needed try some i betcha teeth start shrinking upon chewin jus like majic amazing fruits
Our tree yielded around 40 pounds this year. The robins weren’t around and the deer either. Both tend to get their fill and leave us usually about 10 pounds. Anyhow chokecherry jam/jelly/syrup is super dark. Yellow orange red bees are not ripe so we never use them. We may leave them on the window to ripen. I don’t believe there are chokecherry trees of different colors, just unripened or ripened berries.
Beautiful colors! It must have been a fun day cherry picking with a friend. I always thought chokecherries were toxic to people and animals. I was on a camping trip when a young girl ate a bunch of chokecherries and got pretty sick. We had to take her to the hospital. So I guess it’s just the seeds that are toxic?
Hello! I have been doing chokecherry juice for a few years now, BUT ... I'm worried that I have been adding too much water. It tastes fine and makes pretty good syrup and jelly. I usually add enough water so it's level with the top of the berries. Then boil it down. It looks to me that you do not add as much water as I do. So your concentrate is likely richer and fuller than mine. Am I making a mistake by doing this? Thanks for a great tutorial, and part 2 was just as informative and enjoyable!
![Wild Chokecherry - In Surival & Wilderness Living [Fruit Leather, Jam, Juice, Raw]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WTwXwSjOdbM/mqdefault.jpg)
Wyoming mountains are a treasure trove of nature.
I think most mountains are, but I know these the best.
My Granny and Great Aunts always made chokecherry, sumac, and high bush cranberry jellies. So delicious! Ontario, Canada
On the property where i grew up we had two or three choke cherry trees. However my family knew nothing of how to process them. Long before Google, lol. So they were wasted. Im sad now that i hear they are so nutritious. After my father retired he did make jelly from them. It was delicious to me and my dad. My mother hated it so he never made it again. Thank your for all this wonderful information. I wish i had a bounty of those now to dye some yarn. Lovely color
I do love the flavor and they have such a brilliant colored juice!
I could almost get the delicious smell while watching the video ! : D
When ever youtube invents smell-o-vision, I think it will be popular!
Berry picking has got to be one of the best therapies if your under a lot of stress. A long time ago I was living under very stressful circumstances and became sleep deprived. A friend invited to their home were they had a wild blueberry bog in the yard. I slept from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m.ish , picked berries till 10:30. Took a 2/3 hour nape after lunch and repeated the process for 3 day's. Best therapy in the world. The best part was the blueberry cobbler we had for desert and breakfast with coffee.
Very nice!
Good Afternoon earth mother well another first for me they look yum plenty of vitamin C +++ Thank you for this video ,PD
So glad that you are going to show us some canning. I cant wait!!!!
me too!!!
Chokecherries can also be dried, and ground up into a flour which can be used in baking.
Love your cooking videos, great camera work, attractive hostess/chef, very easy to follow step by step instruction and best all commercial free.
Good harvest....😉
Nice!
I bet that would be lovely hot in the winter, with mulling spices and honey.
I did this 40 yrs ago. You are having so much fun.
Learn something new from you all the time Ariel ! So impressed with your skills ,you don't make it mundane , you keep your kitchen tidy , and you make this seem really easy !
We used to have chokecherry trees that grow on the field edges of are revealed and they grew about as plump as the from the first joint on my little finger and my Hyster pick about 800 pounds of them summer and we sold them and they made syrup Jam all kinds of stuff from them they're very delicious
That's a lot! Nice!
Thanks Ariel, that was fun to watch👌 I've never heard of chokecherries before, but they look beautiful...hope you enjoy! 😊💖🌏
Watching your videos inspires me to forage! And by the way, your content is terrific! Thank you for sharing your off-grid life and knowledge.
I have a fantastic yeast for those choke cherries. Low tolerance sweet wine yeast....yummmm
Wine making is not something I've taken up yet, but wouldn't mind adding to my life at some point if I have time.!
Which kind of great do you use?
I really like your cooking videos. Your place is so cozy. I think cooking is more enjoyable when the weather turns colder. Look forward to seeing the first snowfall there.
They're cool, I ate them stones and all when I was young and never had any problems health wise...my sister used to forage wild cranberries for our Thanksgiving which in Canada is in October, it's very labor intensive as the cranberries are in swampy bogs, they are the size of the chokecherry, but worth the effort for the Thanksgiving meal .
I love cranberries! Then don't grow here sadly, or I'd try to pick them too.
Hi Ariel thanks for sharing this is very interesting
Haven't thought of chokecherries in ages. Need to see if I can find a bush/tree here in Texas.
That looks absolutely wonderful. And I bet it tastes as good as it looks. Thanks for sharing.
Very good video with valuable tips and information! I am subscribed and excited to learn more! :)
It looks like you have wild cranberries in with your choke cherries (the lighter coloured ones). When I was young I played in the bush lots and would stop and eat any berry that was in season, well not much has changed I guess as I still forage berries while I am out. Frozen wild cranberries are a nice treat while out snowshoeing!! The partridge love them also.
I love cranberries too! But as far as I know, there are not any that grow in this area. These were definitely a cherry variety of some kind based on bush shape, bark, leaves, flavor, and pits.
I have made jelly from the dark (almost black) chokecherries .... it has been over 20 years since though. It was done when I lived in the U.P. of Michigan where you could find groves and groves of these trees. Never found any of the lighter varieties, although there could have been some and I wrote them off as not being ripe. For my taste buds, that was the richest cherry jelly I've ever had, and nothing since has even come close. Never thought about making any juice from it back then, but would prolly been very good as well. It was great having access to such abundance in those days. Take care.
I think the light ones must be rare in most areas. The handful of neighboring bushes I found that were light were the only ones I've ever seen as far as I know. And I've seen thousands of the dark ones.
Love your videos as always. I love learning about your off-grid journey. My family picked berries all season long and my mom made and canned jams, jellies and juices from them all. I agree with you about it being so lovely to berry pick with a friend. My mom and I had some great conversations, especially during my teens when I was not the most agreeable person. I did the same thing with my kids...when they were going through a difficult non-communicative period, I would take them for a walk in the woods, or we would go pick berries. It was a non-pressure time to talk and also was constructive. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful times. Please continue to share your adventures with us, I live vicariously through yours. Cheers, Michele
It is great conversation time!
My mom had a bag she made of the same material. Just easier to fill with pulp. After squeezing it she would hand it over a pot overnight to let it drip through.
Thanks! save me a glass.
Your videos are so relaxing, calming and inspirational! God bless you Ariel! 💕🤗
I sure the Native Americans use Chokecherries for a natural Stain. Those would dye/stain cloth so beautifully. Thanks for sharing
Hi Ariel! We don't have Chokecherry growing near me ( as far as I know!) in the NYC area. I Love seeing something new ! Great video, thanks :-)
I believe it is native to your area, but can't say there are many native plants left for you to find!
Beautiful fall colors! Am enjoying your salvaging the end of summer :-) . Would make a great jelly!
It does make wonderful rich cherry jelly Donelle ..... the best!
I've not made jelly with them, but I can imagine that would be wonderful too!
The sumac bush with the red seed pods make a nice tart drink. Its kind of like a mix of cranberry and some blackberry. Pluck or cut them off the bush. In a tub, use a fork to scrape the seeds off the pine-like stem inside, and into a large bowl. Cover to the top of the seeds with water and let them soak a few hours or overnight, and occasionally squeeze-mash them. Strain the juice out with some type of strainer. A cloth works good for this. Put seeds back into the area where you gathered them. This juice can be reduced by heat evaporation to make a redish-pink food color and flavoring such as for icing.
I've heard of that. It doesn't grow here, but I'd love to try it sometime!
@@FyNyth ok. It seems to be alot of it in Pa here, and I guess the east coast. Its considered to be somewhat a nuissance plant/bush/tree (perhaps up to 30ft). It us generally avoided due to the fear of a rash and/or being poisonous. I think the sumac with the white berries is poisonous, but I havent even seen it yet around here. Im guessing there might be some fungus issues late in the season, but the acid or vitamin C in the juice probably reduces it. Hot water could also reduce it. I only made 1 batch this summer.
We had chokecherries growing abundantly in our neighborhood in CT when I was a kid. We never made anything from them though because they were so bitter, what a shame we wasted them.
They aren't much fun to eat fresh, but the juice (or jam, syrup, wine, etc) made from them is pretty wonderful!
SURE THE WILD LIFE TOOK CARE OF EATING THEM. ☺
Ariel, It always seems that there is more juice that can come out that you can't get. I would always try several ways to get more with the pulp from a juicer. Are you going to try to make chokecherry pudding the native traditional way? I would like to get some pits to start some trees where I live. It seems like you have a lot of wild eatable stuff growing around you.
I didn't get to any chokecherry pudding this year. You mean the pounded and dried berries kind of like a fruit leather I assume? I've got some seeds for you once they dry out!
Thank-you. I was talking about the pudding that the Native Americans would make. There was student that did a science fair project about the pudding that used the seeds included that had good health benefits
Love your cooking videos! I actually enjoy cooking dinner along with these videos... sounds strange but I hate cooking (though I like high quality/nutritious/homemade food) and so TH-cam helps pass the time in the kitchen ;) I have tried a few of your recipes and enjoy them as well as just the general inspiration on how to use fresh, seasonal produce.
Wonderful! I'm glad it inspires you and that you value good food enough to do that even if it's not your favorite thing! I hope someday you enjoy it more. :)
Hey Ariel! I just found your channel! Thanks for the video 🙂
Have you ever used a steam juicer? Seems like it would work well with chokecherries. I once used a borrowed one to make nice clear grape juice. Perhaps if you spread the word on your local network you could locate one to borrow too! :)
I've heard of them, but never used one. I think I may be the only person in my whole area who does much of this stuff... At least I don't know anyone else who lives around here who cans and such. :)
interesting video. A couple of observations; 1. you could build yourself a small press to squeeze the juice out. 2. I have been told that heating it kills the vitamin C.??? 3. It may be easier to do several small batches because the whole lot in the big pot is difficult to manage. 4. Perhaps once you have most of the juice you could ferment the rest of the 'muck' to make wine. It would be good to be able to get all the pulp and just throw the seeds in the compost. Just a few ideas for you.
I could. Someday I'd like to have a cider press, but I don't know how well that would work with something this small. Cooking reduces the amount of vitamin C somewhat for sure - www.livestrong.com/article/547867-what-does-cooking-do-to-vitamin-c/ . Wine making is not something I've taken up yet, but wouldn't mind adding to my life at some point if I have time.
We used to make chokecherry jam every year. Always that beautiful fuschia color! YUM--not too sweet, just nice and tart!
Also, you would have to chew the pits to get cyanide poisoning, and most people's GI tract won't break down the pits if swallowed whole
That has to be the most beautiful and unique colored juice I've ever seen! I wonder what that would taste like in a Kombucha?? Maybe mixed with something else like ginger or mint or something smooth like a melon? Jelly sounds like it would be great.
As a kid in WA state, there was a similar berry we were told not to eat as kids - the bush was different, shorter and diff leaves, but the fruit looks almost exactly like the chokecherry. I'll have to take another look around the woods here in spring for the right bushes.
FYI, Berries and cherries stain but not dye fabric. I think preserves would be good too. Thanks for sharing.
There is a rim near me where the water table is exposed near the top. It's a real steep sandstoneish like a talus slope that has some soil in it, with sagebrush and cedars, for four to eight hundred feet up, then the last two hundred feet or so is limestone and straight up. It is over a hundred miles long if you consider the edge as it snakes in and out. Often, up under where the limestone cliff meets the steep slope, is where it leaks. Large areas will have water oozing out. Directly below where it leaks is where the chokecherries grow -- millions of bushes of them. It's quite a hike climbing that slope that's almost too steep to stand on, but I swear, those chokecherries up there taste so much better than any I've ever had from the bushes (domestic ? IDK) that grow down around the farms. Well, I shouldn't say "tastes better", they are extremely tart, almost too tart to eat, I should say make the best tasting jelly and pie fillings. They are smaller berries, all really dark purplish black, than the lower ones in the farms and creek bottoms . IDK if it's a different varietal, sub species, or just a different phenotype from the micro climate, and cold irrigation up there, but I made that climb many times in the fall, and hauled many down for my mother to make jelly, syrup, and pies. I learned from my dad young how to not end up making the hike before they were good and ripe. We'd be out fixing fence or riding and checking cattle, and he'd point out a bright purple, seedy, coyote turd and tell me, "Looks like the chokecherries up on the rim are ready".
That's a great story! I think every kind of wild thing I know of loves them!
Ohhh I miss choke cherries, we made choke cherry jelly every year while growing up in Wyoming near Newcastle.
You use those flour bags for everything, don't you? I remember my mom telling me, when she was a kid, she would use them to make herself pajamas. Considering how useful they are, I wish we could still get the cloth ones here.
They are great for making cheese also.
They are handy for quite a few things! You can get some here - amzn.to/2yoh8GO
I wonder if they have the anti-inflammatory properties that regular cherries have.
More in general. www.nutrition-and-you.com/chokeberry.html
You mentioned that you could sweeten them with honey so I just wondered if you have bee hives in your garden. Great for pollination and you could collect the honey over time.
I would love to pick wild berries with you some day.
them there berries are called 'teeth straighteners' in my neck a the woods ortrodonpricks are not needed try some i betcha teeth start shrinking upon chewin jus like majic amazing fruits
Our tree yielded around 40 pounds this year. The robins weren’t around and the deer either. Both tend to get their fill and leave us usually about 10 pounds. Anyhow chokecherry jam/jelly/syrup is super dark. Yellow orange red bees are not ripe so we never use them. We may leave them on the window to ripen. I don’t believe there are chokecherry trees of different colors, just unripened or ripened berries.
It reminds me of the Adventures of the Gummi Bears...i'm getting old!
Wouldn't the waste make great winter bird feed rather than compost? Spread on ground under bird feeder for winter birds
Even the birds spit these seeds. :)
Just made this with my son, smells good. Mine isn't as clear as yours, mine is a little more cream looking, that ok?
I would think so, there are different colors of choke cherries so I can easily imagine different colors in the juice. Enjoy! I love their taste.
Beautiful colors! It must have been a fun day cherry picking with a friend. I always thought chokecherries were toxic to people and animals. I was on a camping trip when a young girl ate a bunch of chokecherries and got pretty sick. We had to take her to the hospital. So I guess it’s just the seeds that are toxic?
Sorry to hear that! Correct from what I know- www.fruitsinfo.com/chokecherry-fruit.php
Fy Nyth, thanks for this. I never knew of the health benefits. I was just always told to stay away from it.
Does it retain it's minerals and vitamins content during cooking process??
Mineral yes, some vitamins are usually lost in heating. But there's still a lot more than most foods in a grocery store.
@@FyNyth ok thanks!
Do you make Jam with the juice?
Hello! I have been doing chokecherry juice for a few years now, BUT ... I'm worried that I have been adding too much water. It tastes fine and makes pretty good syrup and jelly. I usually add enough water so it's level with the top of the berries. Then boil it down. It looks to me that you do not add as much water as I do. So your concentrate is likely richer and fuller than mine. Am I making a mistake by doing this? Thanks for a great tutorial, and part 2 was just as informative and enjoyable!
The berries look like jewels
Are you picking chokeberries or Mayday fruits?
wondering why you'd put the pits in the compost - if the pits have cyanide? Do they break down anyway, do they have a nutritive value?
Yep. They break down just fine into the separate nutrients and go back into the soil system.
does it matter if they aren't ripe?
P.S. - heating it up doesn't change it.
Hmm... I've read a lot of things that say heating or drying destroys most of it. Do you have a source for that? I'd love to learn more.
I don’t have any source material for you to read, I just know that I roasted some to try the taste and it was still affective.
The app has l
she spit the pit out did not wash her hands ..
I’m curious if the gadget you used with the tomatoes would help here with getting more juice out?