Wild Cherry?

[Duster]

Ok this may sound like a total newbie question, or two questions rather.
Is this wild cherry and are they safe for wine making?
They are free and bountiful from a friend. If so I plan on mixing them with 15 lbs of concord and 7 lbs of raspberries currently in the freezer.



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[cintipam]

Sorry, I don't recognize that plant. I do have several tart cherry trees and lots of unusual fruit bushes tho. It could help to tell how tall the tree is, when it blooms and what the blooms look like. the leaves look a bit like cherry, but they appear very long. It may be an optical illusion and that the berries are actually very small. But cherries don't grow in strings like that.

I'm glad you checking ID before proceeding. Be safe.

Pam in cinti

 

[pjd]

Duster, Yes that is a choke cherry and is perfectly suitable for wine making. I sure wish I had some.

 

[Duster]

Thanks PJD
Sam and others, my neighbor calls them wiled black cherries. Tree blooms small white blooms in the spring and the trees are about 25'.
Here is several more pics of bark, leaves, berries.
I have included a tape measure to get better idea of size and a photo of a berry that I pitted to show the pit.




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[DBAKER]

That is black cherry. Choke cherry looks similar but small bush like plants. Both make wine. Avoid smashing the pits, they are very bitter and I believe poisonious. I picked a couple of days ago and have a 3 gal batch in primary. Both make good jelly as well Good luck.

denny

 

[jensmith]

Duster, Yes that is a choke cherry and is perfectly suitable for wine making. I sure wish I had some.

Ditto.


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[Arne]

Your berries look just like what the kids brought up to me. I fermented them down and racked them to secondary friday. Looked at what was left in the primary and decided to make a seconds. Added 5 gal. water, sugar to 1.085, threw the bag of chokecherries back in, nutrient, energizer, and one 48 oz. real lemon, stirred it all up and left for the weekend. Last night the s.g. was down to 1.005. Havn't tasted it yet, but will shortly. The origional ferment had a great flavor. Didn't do anything special with the origional batch. Just the berries, all the intredients, and let it ferment. Course added yeast to the first batch, the second one just took off with the leftover yeast from the first ferment. Good luck with yours. Arne.