JUICING UP THE INVENTORY

[NorthernWinos]

Seems it is time to rotate the stock in the freezers.....make room for this years crops....

Much to my surprise there was still 60# of Chokecherries out in the freezer in the garage....out of sight/out of mind....

Plus the neighbor wants to clean out his freezer and offered his Chokecherries from last year.....

So, I brought in 20# and will juice it up for another batch of our favorite Chokecherry Wine...Probably will do 2 batches as it is not only our favorite but the favorite of the whole neighborhood....

Will probably make up more Chokecherry Pancake Syrup too.....that goes down good.

Looks like a pretty good crop hanging on the bushes, tho the clusters don't look as large as last year....

 

[NorthernWinos]

So, it's been a bit of a marathon....
I juiced up our 62# of fruit..... then a neighbor brought over his 44#.....I finished juicing them yesterday...

So, I have this wine thing going....

Have juice preserved in mason jars for the 'Wine Effort'...at least 2 more batches....

Today I did the pancake syrup thing.....

Washed everything, put all my 'toys' away...and want to play a new game....

Haven't had any Chemo pills since Tuesday and won't have treatment till next Tuesday...so this is as good as I am going to feel .....

Headed to a car show/swap meet/antique market in the early dawn....It's one of the biggest swaps in MN....acres of good stuff to see and buy....it is an annual event for us and am so great full I feel good enough to go...[I hope]

Life is Good!!!!

 

[Wade E]

I bet that syrup is like liquid heaven!!!

 

[smokegrub]

Hey, guys, are chokecherries synonymous with wild cherries? Our "wild cherries" mature in the early fall and the foilage is toxic to livestock.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

May be one and the same, I believe the leaves are toxic, especially after a frost, or broken, releasing cyanide. Heres a link that describes them a bit.


http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/shrubs/prunusvir.html

 

[smokegrub]

Thanks, JW. I will check these out carefully.

 

[Cracked Cork]

HI Northerwino, I got the steamer and steamed a bunch of elderberry and blackberries, still in the carboys waiting until fall. We want to make some elderberry and blackberry syrup with our steamer, can you give us some recipies and hints?

Thanks,

Crackedcork

 

[NorthernWinos]

Here is the recipe I used...

~~~~~~~~~~CHOKECHERRY PANCAKE SYRUP~~~~~~~~~~~

5 CUPS JUICE
½ tsp BUTTER [prevents foaming]
1 PK POWDERED PECTIN
1 CUP WHITE CORN SYRUP
1 tsp ALMOND FLAVOR [Chokecherries have kind of an almond flavor]

BOIL 1 MIN

ADD:
2 CUPS SUGAR

BOIL 1 MIN...
POUR INTO HOT STERILIZED JARS....
FILL TO 1/8 INCH FROM TOP...
WIPE RIM...
TOP WITH HOT STERILIZED LIDS...

If using liquid pectin...Add the sugar in the beginning, boil, add the pectin, boil [as per manufacturers instructions in process]

If you boil it too long you get jelly.

ENJOY!!!

 

[Bert]

Have you tried other juices with this recipe???? I'm thinking crabapple, june berry or others??? This sounds like it could be interesting and fun...

 

[NorthernWinos]

I have made blueberry and blackberry in the past...all with steam extracted juice...

Going to try some wine pancake syrup for Christmas gifts.

Have fun...enjoy!!!

 

[rgecaprock]

Everything is so neat and lined up. You have the most organized operation going there!!! Mine would be all over the place!!!...Great Presentation!!!


Ramona

 

[Waldo]

I have made blueberry and blackberry in the past...all with steam extracted juice...

Going to try some wine pancake syrup for Christmas gifts.

Have fun...enjoy!!!

Hmmmm, wonder what fellow has to do to get on that list !!!

It all looks wonderful NW.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

I'm not doing fruit wines yet but this is sure an interesting thread. Good stuff! Thanks.

 

[NorthernWinos]

After juicing up the last of the freezer Chokecherries last week I wanted to make 2 batches so we would have plenty of our favorite wine on hand.

I mixed up another batch of Chokecherry Wine this morning....same recipe..hopefully same wonderful wine.

I took inventory of our wine juice supply stored in our Spare Bedroom/juice/wine aging room.....It appears there is 60 quarts of chokecherry juice [6 batches]..... 40 quarts of apple juice [2 batches of sparling apple wine]...... 10 quarts Sandcherry .....10 quarts crabapple juice...11 quarts raspberry juice and some strawberry juice...enough for a batch of each....
So...I ask myself....?????? What are you thinking?????
When is enough..enough???

I am picking raspberries everyday...because that is one of our favorite wines.....I want to pick blueberries....because we like that too.....I am watching the Chokecherries and am beginning to realize.....

I need some help!!!!
Is there a support group to help us control ourselves????
But...then there is always the possibility there will be no fruit next year....
So...we continue to hoard our fruits and berries and juices...

Guess it's not really a bad-thing.

 

[Wade E]

Too much is always better then not enough when its a good thing.

 

[smokegrub]

Want my mailing address? I'll be happy to relieve you of some of this horrid pressure! : )

 

[NorthernWinos]

Smoke

....are you picking fruit too in your area.....It's really interesting to see what fruits people are picking in different areas of the country.

 

[poppysue]

Northern winos, You have inspired me to try my luck with the chokecherry. I have a nice Canadian Red Chokecherry tree in my yard and the berries arepretty muchripe now. I figure I should get my butt out there tomorrow if I want to get some before the birds eat them all. Can you give me a guestimate of how many berries you use per gallon to get your reccommended amount of juice? I don't have a juicer so I'll either have to do the strainer bag method or I thought I might me able to run them through my Roma tomato strainer to get the pits out and pulp them up into a juice.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I usually use 20-22# for a 6 gallon batch...that is using the steamer.

I think 3-4# per gallon would be good....You can get this wine too strong...I found that out with a batch once....used a couple extra quarts of juice.

 

[poppysue]

How about ripeness of the cherries? I went out this morningwith my bucketbut now I'm thinking maybe I should wait a couplemore days. Some of the clusters lookblack-redbut others are more red-red. I know the more ripe they are the better... but will it hurt the wine if some of them are under ripe? I'm afraid if I wait too long there won't be anything left.