Chokecherries are among the most common wild fruit in the northwestern part of North America. Blueberries and huckleberries are more popular, and Saskatoon berries also grow in abundance, but at least in my experience chokecherries are more plentiful.
As the name implies, they are small cherries (<1 cm diameter), with a central stone and a rim of edible flesh. If you eat them when they are not ripe, they will definitely make your throat feel like it’s shrinking on you. This time of year, when they have matured from light red into their deep purple color and frost has touched the leaves and fruit, they become sweeter (though they are still somewhat astringent). I enjoy eating them when hiking in the fall. Many people do not eat chokecherries raw but use them to make jelly, syrup or wine. Cooking the berries removes their astringency.
A word of warning — only the fruit is edible. All other parts of the chokecherry bush/tree are poisonous, so do not break off a twig and chew on it.
