With its gorgeous red color and a taste of days gone by, a classic chokecherry jelly recipe needs to be in every forager's repertoire. This is a family recipe made how my friends Grandma did after she'd pick cherries in Northern Minnesota. It's the best because of the special way the cherries are crushed to make chokecherry juice. Read on and I'll share the secret.
Lots of different cherries can be used here. Two wild cherries that ripen after chokecherries (Prunus Virginiana) are sand cherries (Prunus pumila) and black cherries (Prunus serotina). Both of those can be substituted here, along with similar wild cherries like Prunus avium.
Pin cherries (Prunus pensylvanica) are a little different as they're tiny and have a high amount of pit compared to juice.
When Are Chokecherries Ripe?
One of the most important things is making sure your wild cherries are ripe. Choke cherries are ripe when they're completely black-not red. This can be confusing if you're new to foraging wild cherries.
It can also be confusing as some cherries will ripen unevenly on the tree due to different circumstances such as how much sun they get.
How to Make Chokecherry Jelly
The first step to making choke cherry jelly is to make wild cherry juice. You'll need about 2 lbs of wild cherries to make a decent batch of jelly. The juice is made by mixing the cherries with water and cooking them.
I crush my cherries by putting them through a meat grinder like Grandma did, but you can put them in a pot with water to cover if you want-you don't have to grind them at all.
A few stones will get crushed this way, giving the jelly a subtle hint of almond extract. For those worried about cyanide, please refer to my post on cooking with cherry pits (and prepare to have your mind blown).
To make the juice, mix the cherries with water to cover and bring them to a simmer.
After twenty minutes, the cherries are strained and the juice is allowed to cool. I like to squeeze the extra juice from the fruit.
When the juice is cool it's mixed with sugar and apple pectin. I like to use Cuisine Tech Pectin, but any powdered apple pectin will work. The sugar-juice mixture is brought to a boil.
While the juice boils, it's important to skim any impurities from the surface. You can also add a knob of butter to prevent foaming and creeping up the sides of the pan.
Once the juice starts to hover around 220 F it's time to do set tests. Spoon a teaspoon of jelly onto a small metal pie plate or something similar held over a bowl of ice.
Once the jelly passes the set test and is around the correct temperature, turn the heat off and add the lemon juice.
Then the jelly is poured into clean mason jars. From here it can be stored in the fridge for a month, or the jars can be processed in a water bath for long term storage.
Canning Chokecherry Jelly
The canning process is the same for other preserves. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and screw on the lids.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. It's important that there's enough water to cover the jars by 2 inches. Add the jars to the boiling water, put on a lid and set a timer for 10 minutes.
After ten minutes, remove the hot jars using tongs and allow them to cool on a counter. Finally, label and date the jars and store them in a pantry.
More Wild Fruit Preserves
Classic Chokecherry Jelly
Equipment
- 1 Large pot or water bath canner for canning, optional
- 1 Metal pie plate over a bowl of ice for doing set tests, optional
- 4 half pint mason jars
- 1 4 quart non-reactive cooking pot such as stainless steel
- 1 Meat Grinder For grinding the cherries, optional
- 1 Strainer or colander
- 1 2ft x 2 ft piece of cheesecloth or a jelly bag
Ingredients
Classic Jelly
- 2 lbs Ripe chokecherries or 4 cups chokecherry juice Equal to 6.5-7 cups fresh or frozen wild cherries,
- 3 cups water just enough so the fruit is barely covered
- 4 cups sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 8 teaspoons Full strength powdered apple pectin such as Ball Classic Fruit Pectin
- 4 teaspoons Lemon juice
- ½ tsp Unsalted butter optional, to help prevent foaming
Cherry Pepper Jelly
- 2 Habanero peppers seeded and finely chopped, optional
Instructions
Make the Chokecherry Juice
- Wash and clean the cherries if needed.
- Grind the cherries in a meat grinder or mash them with a mallet, etc.
- Combine the cherries and water in a tall 4 qt cooking pot.
- Bring the cherries to a simmer over high heat. Turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the pectin in a bowl, add sugar, salt, and mix well.
- if you're more comfortable using liquid pectin like Sure-Jell that's fine too, just follow the directions on the package.
- Strain the chokecherry juice, squeezing the juice from the cheesecloth to get as much juice as possible. You can dehydrate the pits and flesh if you like.
Make the Jelly
- Cool the cherry juice to room temperature, then combine with the pectin-sugar mixture in the 4 qt pot. If you want to make pepper jelly, add the peppers now.
- Bring the cherry juice mixture to a full rolling boil. Make sure to skim impurities from the top as they appear.
- Add the butter if using to help prevent foaming and overflowing.
- Cook the jelly until it reaches 220F on a thermometer.
- When the mixture hovers around 220F begin doing set tests, spooning a teaspoon at a time onto a frozen plate, like a thin pie tin held over a bowl of ice. It shouldn't take long, but I typically get it to set a degree or two past 220F. Doing set tests is the most important skill to master here.
- When the mixture holds its shape and shows threading and beading / sheeting (watch the video for a close up shot) remove from heat, beat in the lemon juice and pour the jelly into jars leaving ½ inch headspace at the top.
- Wipe the rims of the jars and screw on the lids.
Canning the jelly
- Prepare a water bath canner. Bring a large pot of water to a boil filled with enough water that the jars will be covered by at least 2 inches.
- Put a lid on the pot and boil the jars for 10 minutes or the recommended time for half pint jars according to your elevation relative to sea level.
- Remove the jars from the water bath, label, date, and store in a pantry. Any jars that don't seal should be refrigerated.
Richard R Sather
Do you have to do a water bath?
Alan Bergo
It’s the best practice. However, some people don’t, and I occasionally skip it if it’s hot outside. But, if I tell you that it’s unnecessary people will report me to the powers that be.
Charlie Ek
You had me at "Grandma" and "Northern Minnesota." My late mother, the daughter of Finnish immigrants to the area, used to make chokecherry jelly. Without even starting to process the five pounds I picked today (just ahead of the bears ...), I know your recipe is a winner. Thanks for publishing it.
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks Neighbor. I was just picking some yesterday in N WI. I’m here if you have any questions.