Homesteading

Wild cherries ripen in late Spring and early Summer here in the Florida Panhandle. Wild cherry trees are also called Black Cherry, Wild Black Cherry, Rum Cherry and can be used to make jelly, juice and even wine. Native Americans consumed the black cherry as a fresh fruit, sometimes using it in breads and cakes like the Iroquois did. The fruits were also often dried and were an essential ingredient in pemmican. The dried cherries were even ground up and used to make soup by the Ojibwa tribe. The Chippewa used the twigs to make a beverage, while the Potawatomi mainly used the fruit for alcoholic spirits. Black Cherry, Prunus serotina, is a deciduous tree that may grow 60 to 80 feet tall and is found allover the eastern United States. The tree has alternate leaves with a finely toothed margin, inconspicuous glands on the stem, and yellow-brown pubescence on the underside of the leaf. The bark of the tree is marked by horizontal lenticels. As the tree ages, it exhibits a scaly or flaky pattern. In the sprin