Gardening: Chokecherries a winner in jam, jelly or syrup

Common names such as “chokecherry” often provide a link between culture and horticulture. Few people would eat chokecherry out of hand, fresh off the bush. It’s simply too astringent. Yet once processed into jam, jelly, syrup or wine (or made into ice cream!), it is excellent and hard to beat.
Both the western chokecherry  (P. virginiana var. melanocarpa) and the eastern chokecherry (P. virginiana  var. virginiana) are found here. The species name, virginiana, refers