In the early fall of the year the wild chokecherries are ready to pick. I
make some chokecherry syrup with the recipe that follows in
this newsletter. I served French toast
Saturday morning with this syrup to
the great delight of my family.
Chokecherry syrup is also good for
pancakes and delicious over ice
cream.
The following recipe comes from Liza Wilson. You can also make clear jelly with the
chokecherry juice using the recipe
that comes with your commercial
Sure-gel pectin. You can easy pick a gallon of
chokecherries in an hour and can
make enough syrup with that gallon
for 10 pints of syrup. This is often enough to last a family for a year but if your family really likes it, which ours does, you might need a lot more. Making chokecherry syrup is easy and fun for the kids with plenty of adult supervision.
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I've also thought that a small
jar of chokecherry syrup would make a nice,
inexpensive Christmas gift for friends and
neighbors.
The best part of making chokecherry syrup or
jelly is that you don't need any special
equipment, just a large pot for making the
juice. You do not
need a hot water bath canner.
I had a fun time making and canning this syrup
and had tremendous satisfaction making
something really great for next to nothing (and
a lot of it!)
Chokecherry Juice for Syrup or Jelly
Add water to 1 gallon of berries to barely cover
the berries. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20
minutes. Strain through a colander, saving the
juice and returning the berries to your pan.
Barely cover with water and bring to a boil and
simmer for 20 minutes. Drain as before, saving
the juice and returning the berries again to your
pan. Do this one more time for a total of 3
times.
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Discard the berries and mix the
resulting 3 juices. You should have
between 8 and 12 cups of juice. You can
now use this juice for either syrup or clear
jelly.
Chokecherry Syrup
• 8 C. juice or 12 C. juice
• 1 pkg. Sure-Jell pectin
• 1/2 C. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 t. almond extract
• 10 C. sugar (if using 8 C. juice) or 12 C. sugar if using 12 C. juice
Pour boiling water over clean new lids.
Have clean dry jars ready to use. Mix
ingredients, boil for 2 minutes. Pour syrup
into about 3 jars at a time within 1/8 inch of
top of jar. Put hot lid on top and screw on
band. Immediately invert jars for 5
minutes, then turn jars right side up again.
After jars are cool check seal by pressing
middle of lid with finger. If lid springs up
when finger is released, lid is not sealed.
(Just refrigerate sealing failures and use
within 3 weeks.) Because of the high sugar
and acid content, you do not have to use the
water bath method to make this syrup or
jelly. Continue with your other jars in the
same manner.
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