"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

8/18/16

Choke Cherry Jelly

My daughter Ruth went back to college this week, on Monday. I am alone again during the day. I will really miss her. I'm glad we got to do a project together that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Last Saturday morning she surprised me by going out and picking a big bucket of Choke Cherries so we could make jelly.



Choke Cherries grow wild all over our property. There are several bushes growing along our driveway. I've been living here 24 years and every year when the wild Choke Cherries are ripe I say "I should pick some cherries and try making jelly" but I never got around to doing it.

I was so surprised by this 'gift' from Ruth. I had plans for that day, but I totally threw them out the window and we spent the whole day making jelly.



I found a simple recipe on the internet that consisted of the cherries, pectin, sugar, and a lot of elbow grease. I dug around in my cupboards and found 7 jelly jars. I've never made Choke Cherry jelly before and I didn't think we'd get much out of that big bucket because 90% of a Choke Cherry is pit. The rest is sour bitter that is slightly cherry in flavor.



Boy, were we surprised! I had to dig out some old pint jars. We processed a batch, then had to find more jars for a second batch! We got 15 jars of jelly! 7 small jelly jars, and 8 pint jars!

I wish I'd made it years ago. We've been missing out! It's absolutely delicious! I've been eating it on everything.



I'm so glad my daughter and I got to make the jelly together. We had so much fun. I will treasure this memory forever.

Live long and prosper. \\//


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