Categories: Recipe Inspiration

Chokecherry Recipes

The chokecherry is often termed as the forgotten fruit because people tend to avoid consuming anything with the word choke, which leaves this very deserving fruit ignored. However, in the upcoming article, you will come across some tempting chokecherry recipes and will want to prepare all of them at home.

Chokecherry is scientifically known as Prunus Virginiana. It is a species of bird cherry that grows mostly in North America. Chokecherries are bitter or astringent but make good jellies, jams, and sauces. Other than this, the natives make use of other parts of the plant for medicinal purposes. The bark of the tree and the fruit are used for treating diarrhea and fever whereas the roots are chewed and pressed on wounds to control bleeding.

Since we are dealing with the recipes of chokecherries, it is very important to identify and choose edible cherries. The chokecherry plant is pretty similar to the black cherry, hence, you need to understand the differences between the two, before collecting the cherries. Though this fruit is bitter, it adds great flavor to the dish in which it is used. Some of the easiest, yet yummy chokecherry recipes are presented in the following part of the article.

Chokecherry Crown Rolls

Ingredients:

2 pkg yeast
½ cup sugar
4 ¼ cup all-purpose flour unsifted
1 egg
2 tsp salt
½ cup margarine
¾ cup milk
½ cup water

Filling Ingredients:

¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups pitted chokecherries
¼ cup sugar
1 cup Chokecherry juice

Preparation:

Making the Dough:

Take a sauce pan and heat it on low flame. Pour milk, water and margarine into the pan and stir to get a good mix. Let it become warm and then turn towards the dry ingredients required for the dough.
Take a large bowl. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, salt, undissolved yeast and sugar and mix well. You can mix it with a large spoon or even with your hand.
By the time you mix the above ingredients, your milk and margarine liquid mix will be ready. Add this mixture to the dry mix of flour and yeast and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add egg and beat at high speed for a minute.
Now keep adding extra flour until the mixture turns into a dough.
Cover the bowl with foil and refrigerate overnight.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator the next day and let it become room temperature.
Spread some flour on the rolling board and place the dough over it.
Cut the dough into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope around 14-15 inches long.
Now to form a coil, hold one end of the rope in place and continue to entwine the other end around it. Tuck the end properly beneath the coil.
Place all the ready coils on the baking sheets smeared with oil with enough space between them. Cover the coils.
Let the coils rise double the original size. It will take an hour approximately.
Make an inch wide incision in the center of all the coils. Make sure that the incision penetrates till the bottom of the coil.

Making the Filling:

Mix chokecherry juice, sugar, and cornstarch and blend properly. Cook the blended mixture on medium heat till it thickens. Stir constantly during the process.
Add pitted chokecherries and turn off the flame. Let the mixture cool down.

Baking the Crown Rolls:

Fill the incisions with chokecherry filling and bake at 400° for 15 minutes.
When it’s done remove from the pans and place on wire racks to cool.
While the rolls cool, prepare the icing. Take a cup of confectioner’s sugar and ½ tablespoon milk and mix well to make it drizzling smooth.
When the rolls are cool, coat them with thin icing and they are ready to serve. You can have 4 servings with the above measurements.

Chokecherry Apple Butter

Ingredients:

2 cups of chokecherry pulp
5 cups of sugar
4 cups of apple pulp
1/2 tsp almond extract
Medium sieve

Preparation:

Boil the fruits until thoroughly cooked and ready to be pulped. There is no need to add anything while boiling, just sufficient amount of water will do the job.
Put both the fruits through the medium sieve to get the pulp.
Now, put the mixture on the stove and heat to a boil. Keep stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
After the first boil, add 5 cups of sugar and stir until sugar gets dissolved completely.
When the mixture starts becoming thicker, add ½ teaspoon almond extract and give it a good mix.
Put it in a sterilized jar, wipe the rims and seal the jar with a lid.
Process it in hot water for just 8-10 minutes and let it cool down slowly.
Your chokecherry apple butter is ready to serve. You can have 8 cups of chokecherry apple butter.

As a variation you can use any other fruit in combination with chokecherry, or just make only chokecherry butter the same way. An extra element in this recipe will be use of lemon juice. Juice of ½ a lemon should be added after adding sugar.

Chokecherry Jam

Ingredients:

4 cups of chokecherries
Large sauce pan
Preserving or regular granulated sugar
Sieve
Water (1 cup for 4 cups of chokecherries)
Large spoon
Sterile jar

Preparation:

Remove the stems from the chokecherries and wash them. Drain the water completely.
Put the cherries in a large sauce pan and add 1 cup of water for every 4 cups of cherries.
Now, bring it to a boil at a very low temperature until the fruit becomes soft and its skin starts peeling. It is very important to stir the mixture constantly as it can stick to the sides of the pan and burn. It will take approximately 15-20 minutes to soften the fruit.
The next step is to remove the extra water from the pulp. Remove the mixture from the flame and put it in a medium sieve. Press it to drain off the extra water.
After clearing the extra amount of water, measure the pulp and add equal amount of sugar. As suggested in the ingredients section you can either use preserving sugar which is available at a local supermarket or normal granulated sugar.
Put the mixture back on the flame with medium heat and stir till the sugar melts completely. Taste the mixture for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary.
While the mixture is boiling on medium flame, add liquid pectin and keep stirring until it gets mixed properly.
Remove the mixture from the heat and skim off the foam from the surface. You can add a little butter to minimize foaming.
Pour the ready jam into the sterile jar and seal the lid.
For storage you have two options; one is keeping it in the refrigerator where it sets within a few hours and the other is placing it in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Allow the jar to cool down which will require 24 hours.

Chokecherry Pudding

Ingredients:

Chokecherries
Sugar
Water
All-purpose flour

Preparation:

Wash the chokecherries. Put them in a pressure cooker with some water to boil.
Now, put the cooked cherries in a bowl and mash them. If you want to keep the seeds in your pudding, you can grind the chokecherries to chop the seeds. If you don’t want the seeds, you can remove them as soon as the cherries boil.
Add sugar to taste.
Now start adding all-purpose flour to get a pudding consistency. You will get about 3-4 servings.

Chokecherry Pie

Ingredients:

1 9″ baked pie shell
1 cup sugar
2 cups chokecherry juice
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 level tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients one after another in the sauce pan and cook. Keep stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
Pour the cooked mixture into the baked pie shell and refrigerate it until chilled.
Garnish it with whipped cream and it’s ready to serve.

These are some of the best and the most delicious chokecherry recipes. Interestingly, you can even make chokecherry wine at home and serve it on special occasions like birthday parties and social gatherings. For children, chokecherry juice or jelly can be a healthy treat, while the elders are enjoying their wine.