Iknow there are raspberries a plenty in these hills, and tart sumach berries are blushing red, but the only berry I've seen in profusion so far is the prolific Chokecherry. Deep purple black when ripe, astringent, sweet -tart, and borne is convienent raceme clusters, the chokecherry is easy to spot, and easy to collect ( no thorns!!!) If you make it there before the birds!
Cherry is best known as an ally for use during coughs, as it is a very excellent anti tussive. I've found the bark tea or tincture works amazingly well for the sort of cough tthat makes you red in the face (red as a cherry?) from coughing so hard, or the night time cough that gets worse when you try to lay down to sleep. Wild cherry and lobelia tincture, or a tea of cherry bark and licorice calm that right down and let you get to sleep.
Barking the small branches of the chokecherries , the house fills with the sweet, bitter almond aroma of the prunus species.
now the cherries...mmmmm...mostly used in jam and syrup, as a tasty bioflavanoid rich fruit, makes a lovely syrup. Mmmmm, mix that syrup with cold club soda, and you have yourself a cherry soda...add a drop of vanilla or two, cherry vanilla soda! double delicious!
I also put up some cherries in brandy with a touch of sugar for sipping in late winter. And plan to use some of the syrup mixed with cherry bark tinctured in brandy, for a tasty and medicinal cough syrup. Who said medicine had to be yicky?
1 comment:
Mmmm, Cherries... too bad the bugs are eating all my cherries, and a good thing that they can't eat all the bark!
I love cherry bark as a heart tonic too!
The whole Rose family is so amazing.
Thanks for another great post.
Post a Comment