What are these.

[swillologist]

We have these cherry trees here but I don't know for sure what they are. This is the tree.

This is what the fruit looks like green.

There is one cherry in the top center thatis about the color they are when they are ripe. They are about all pit. They are really bitter when they are ripe. We always called them choke cherries. But from the pictures in the catolog and what has been discussed here I'm not sure that is what they are. The picture here is about as red as they get. When they are ripe they are almost black.

 

[kutya]

Swill: We call those chokecherries here as well. They make excellent wine, and are easy to pick. They have a very large pit in the center, and the berriey is very bitter tasting when ripe. I pick a bunch every year, I have to fight the birds to get them...

 

[swillologist]

Thanks kutya. We have a lot of these trees here so the birds are not a big problem on those. May have to try a gallon of it this summer. What recipe do you use? All of my large carboys are going to be full. I do have a 3 gallon that doesn't have anything in it. Could do a 3 gallon batch.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Chokecherries make a really nice wine...The cherries are very tart and the wine has a bit of a almond flavor...at least to me....It can be a heavy dry wine...but some people make their Chokecherry wines sweet.
I add Red Grape Concentrate to may wine [as I do with most of my fruit wines]


I usually oak ours and the last batch I added a couple vanilla beans...it was the best yet.


Go for the 3 gallon batch...and if you have a lot of those cherries, freeze enough for another batch. We use about 20 or more pounds for a 5 or 6 gallon batch....I use a steam juicer...but think you could extract the juice anyway you can.


Keep us posted on your progress....Will enjoy seeing how you like it.

 

[kutya]

Swill, I use the recipe from the little purple book. I'm sure you could find one on Jack Kellers site.. I'm hoping to add vanilla bean to a batch this year. NW, how much do you add per gal????

 

[NorthernWinos]

I put a couple beans for a 6 gallon batch, I putthem in the primary along with some toasted oak. If you are just doing a one gallon batch maybe just use part of a bean.


I often wonder...do you get more flavor putting oak and vanilla beans in the primary or secondary?? Any opinions???

 

[swillologist]

Thanks kutya. I have a recipe but was just going to compare it to yours. This recipe calls for raisins or red grape concentrate.


I'm new at this nw so I'm sticking pretty close to the recipes for now. I want to see how thing taste without the extra. I'm sure that some of wines can be improved with the extras in them. But what the heck there will always be another batch. Atleast we hope there will be another batch.

 

[rgecaprock]

Swil....
Ask PWP about Choke Cherry Wine. I had a bottle of hers and it was most excellent!!!


Princesss has it down!!!


Ramona


P.S. Lovely SceneryEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[swillologist]

I'll do that, Ramora
Oh that is just part of the orchard and a hayfield next door. We have been getting about the right amount of rain to keep everything green. Also mean mowing every week. Lots of mulch for the tomatoes.

 

[OldWino1]

See wine what an experiment you learn and do all kinds of neato stuff.

 

[PolishWineP]

Ramona,
You should taste it now! Even better! Much better! And once again it looks like it's going to be thin pickin's with the choke cherries due to weather and lack of honey bees.

Swil, when we have a good crop of choke cherries available to us, we pick as many as we can stand to pick and freeze for later use. We sort and clean them, weigh them, write the weight on the outside of each bag and then freeze them. Then they're available to us during the winter when Bert isn't busy in the tractor.Edited by: PolishWineP

 

[swillologist]

The trees aren't overly loaded this year. Not every bloom set a cherry. Should be a decent crop though.There should be enough to go around. The recipe book I use want me to freeze just about everything before I use it to make wine. So freezing them would work out fine for me.