A Little Choked Up

Last year around this time I was reveling in the profound plethora of wild blueberries growing all around me. This year, I suppose because of a lack of rain, the blueberries are small and I haven't picked many. Instead, I've been focusing on a different native fruit, one that is by far less sought after than the popular blueberry. This one is found on a tree, and it's quite the sourpuss and a bit of work to manage, but it packs a huge flavour punch in every small red or purplish orb. Of course, I speak of the humble chokecherry. 

  

For someone like me, situated in Northern Saskatchewan, far away from the warm fields of Niagara or the lush valleys of of the Okanagan, having fresh fruit in the house is not as simple as heading to the store. Unlike Back Home, there are no farmer's markets within 400 kilometres of Up Here. Even those supermarkets in the vicinity (and I use the term "vicinity" loosely) only have fruit from California; "vine ripened" peaches that are still hard and packages of strawberries that are half rotting and half white still.

Chokecherries are quite small, incredibly sour, like to cling to their stems and have pits that are about equal in size to the total parts of the flesh. In other words, they are a pain in the ass to pick and cook with. But I have persevered and found more than one application for the miniscule fruit. The above photo shows what I like to call "The Motherlode". I came across one tree that was literally doubled over under the weight of all the cherries on it. A beautiful sight for any picker.

Chokecherry Wine

Naturally, my first inclination was to search for a way to make the fruit that I had so diligently plucked into some type of alcohol. I found a bunch of recipes online, but being as I was in The North with no fancy wine-making supplies at my fingertips, I was kind of restricted in what I could take and run with so I decided to go old school. The only recipe I found that didn't involve some sort of yeast and/or special was from a nice blog called Prairie Sunrise Homestead. The photo on the site shows a tattered page from an old cookbook sponsored by Safeway, and the only ingredients are chokecherries, water and sugar. For those who don't know (I didn't), a gallon is 16 cups, a quart is 4 cups and a pound of sugar is around 2 cups. The wine has to sit for at least 6 weeks, I won't be able to report on the taste for awhile, but rest assured that I'll keep you posted. Unless I poison myself. Hehe. Gulp.

Chokecherry Juice

3 cups chokecherries, crushed

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

4 cups boiling water

Let stand for 24 hours.

Bring juice to a boil and bottle in hot bottles

After the wine was mixed and set to sit, I decided to satisfy my need for instant gratification and make some juice so that I don't have to wait 6 weeks for a sip of some chokecherry goodness. I got the recipe for the juice from my aunt, who passed it on from a Mexican Mennonite woman she met while living and homesteading in Northern Ontario. How could it possibly be bad? Feel free to add more sugar. I did.

Now onto the jam...

Chokecherry Freezer Jam

I didn't have any pectin lying around, but I did have some freezer jam powder so I decided to try it out. The package says that no cooking is needed, but I thought that cooking the berries slightly would help get more juices out, so I put six cups of chokecherries in a pot with a cup of water and gently simmered for a few minutes. Then I strained them in a frustratingly small-holed strainer. I think if I had a better strainer I could have gotten more pulp, but as it is I only got 2 cups. I tried to use cheesecloth, but the pits kept popping out as I squeezed. Damn those pits. Anyway, I followed the directions on the package, mixing in 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar and only half of the powder in the package (because 1 package calls for 4 cups of fruit. Once again, if you want to put in more sugar, go nuts. This recipe filled six 1/2 cup jars perfectly, but the consistency was off. I'll have to try a more conventional jam recipe and procedure next time, I think.

The fruits of one's labour all stacked and jarred is a pleasant sight, although somehow it never seems to fully represent the hours of work that went into it. So after a full day of picking, washing, crushing, simmering, pouring and canning, what was I going to make for dinner? And would it include chokecherries...

French Inspired Blini

4 Tablespoons sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
3 cups milk
2 Tablespoons oil

Combine the first 4 ingredients, then add the flour. Slowly add the milk until you get your desired consistency; you might not need it all depending on how thick or thin you want the blini to be. Add a drop of oil to the batter, then use the rest on the pan. Fry on medium-low heat and flip halfway through. Traditionally, the filling for the blini (at least the way I was taught) consists of meat which has been simmered: 3-4 hours for beef and pork, 1-2 hours for chicken, and then ground along with sauteed onions. Salt and pepper, parsley, nutmeg, dill, basil and egg are added to the ground mixture and then they are put in the blini. It's really quite delicious, especially served with sour cream. 

Like I said, I was low on inspiration for dinner after all the chokecherry stuff, so I Googled chicken recipes, as I had a leftover cooked chicken breast in the fridge. A few pages later I decided to whip up a quick batch of crepes and make a chicken and mushroom filling. I went for the crepe recipe my family always uses, but then decided to try the blini, which was shared by a Ukranian friend of mine. The recipe for the chicken filling and sauce I got from Canadian Living, and I have to say, it was SUPER delicious. This is one of my favourite dinner moments; the one when I try a new recipe, sit down to take my first bite and revel in the lovely flavours that I have created. The dish is one I would be happy to be served at a restaurant; in fact, I'd likely go back there again and again. And again. The only thing I did differently from the recipe on the site was that I used parmesan cheese instead of fontina and I didn't really measure the ingredients for the sauce, rather I threw together what I thought would be good amounts and it worked really well. No chokecherries were harmed in the making of this dinner. Can't say the same for dessert.

My favourite crepe is a simple one. Sure, it's fun to get fancy with fruit and whipped cream, but I truly do enjoy a crepe rolled up with a spoonful of sugar and lemon juice. I had a few blini left over after dinner, so I decided to roll up a couple of sugary crepes and then dallop the chokecherry jam I'd made on top. A liberal squeeze of lemon and a puff of powdered sugar later, I was in heaven. A nice end to a long day.