Classic Chokecherry Syrup

• servings: 50 servings
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

5 cups fresh chokecherries (roughly 25 oz) to yield 4 cups of juice )

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup white wine vinegar (rice wine, or homemade cherry vinegar)

4 cups sugar (or maple sugar)

Directions

Clean the cherries.

Inspect the chokecherries and see if they need to be cleaned or not. If they’re dirty at all, immerse them in tepid water, remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl to dry, and reserve.

Cook the cherries with water and vinegar.

In a non-reactive pot, combine the chokecherries, vinegar and water. You will need roughly an equal amount of liquid to the volume of cherries. Bring the pot to a boil, then remove from heat. Mash the berries with a potato masher or other tool.

Strain the cherries.

Strain the mixture into a towel or thick cheesecloth over a colander. Cool until you can handle it, then wring out the chokecherry juice. Save or freeze the pits and bits of skin to make fruit scrap vinegar.

Measure the chokecherry juice and add sugar.

Measure the juice and combine with an equal volume of sugar in a wide pot and bring to a boil. Cook it until it barely coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.

Pour the syrup into jars and process in a waterbath.

Pour the mixture into half pint or pint canning jars and cook in a water bath for 5 minutes or 10 minutes for pints. Chokecherry syrup can also be frozen and will last for years.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 oz
• Calories: 72 kcal
• Total Fat: 0.1 g
• Saturated Fat: 0.01 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 0.02 g
• Sodium: 1 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 18 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.3 g
• Total Sugars: 18 g
• Protein: 0.1 g