Cherry sap

[Mang]

I was out on a wander recently and chanced upon a cherry tree with some sap that had oozed out and set. I recall reading that it's edible and vaguely like candy cough sweets-Yeah right! It was like biting Tuppaware!! I chucked after making little headway...

...It was only after I'd lobbed it that I wondered if it needed heating, or whether I'd got it wrong...Anyone know?

 

[Toddy]

Glad you spat it out, 'cos cherry trees are rich in cyanide

No idea who suggested eating it

The resin can be used like pine resin apparantly.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

it is edible, so are bone glue and boiled boots edible. It is used as an ingredient in some parts of the food industry, and it can be used as thickener. I have made asian ink sticks with it.

Experiment with cherry gum by all means but it carries a fungal infection by the way, so hot wash all the tools that touch it.

 

[Toddy]

I didn't know that. My books say that the sap, the pits and the wilting leaves are toxic because of the amygdalin.
Only the bark in tiny amounts may be used in a stimulating tea.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[wattsy]

the wood is food safe though at least i hope it is or i'll be really upset i'm trying to carve a spoon out of it

 

[Toddy]

The wood is fine, but the woodturners are quite insistant that all bark and traces of sap must be removed.

cheers,
Toddy
.....off to research the resin, this topic came up before but my trees haven't ever produced any, iirc the fungal infection is necessary ?

 

[wattsy]

The wood is fine, but the woodturners are quite insistant that all bark and traces of sap must be removed.

cheers,
Toddy
.....off to research the resin, this topic came up before but my trees haven't ever produced any, iirc the fungal infection is necessary ?

thank god for that lol its been something akin to carving marble so far and i'd hate to know that the work had gone to waste

 

[locum76]

Slightly off topic, but I have a bunch of plum tree prunings which have seasoned. Do you all reckon they would be food safe or not?

I suspect they may be cyanide rich too.

 

[Adze]

Only the bark in tiny amounts may be used in a stimulating tea.

Hmm... would that be stimulating in a "That Alfred Hoffman was a genius!" kind of way... or more "ARRGGGHHHH!!!! The maggots!!!! Did you see the size of that chicken?"

I'd really want a better definition of the word 'stimulating' in this context, methinks, before giving it a 'whirl'

 

[Toddy]

Sorry, old books.

Tbh this is one of those *which tree, and how strong is it*, questions.

The North American cherry, Prunus serotina, is used as a sedative for coughs, for easing the persistant hacking cough and allows folks a good nights sleep.

The European cherry, Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus, have different uses. The stems of the fruits are used as an astringent. The bark of these trees was used, in tiny quantities, as a kind of pick you up and clean you out, tea..........stimulating

My cherry trees smell really strongly of bitter almonds, and are pruned annually yet they produce no resin.
I have boiled up the bark for dye and it stinks of the bitter almonds. I don't think I'd be inclined to drink any tea made from these trees.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Mang]

My cherry trees smell really strongly of bitter almonds

I won't be trying again since it tastes horrid and with the possible risk of cyanide...not neccesarily in that order!

 

[xylaria]

PFAF has repeated reference to the edible use of cherry gum in the various entries.
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Prunus+avium

It was used to make chewing gum in the US 200 years ago, the first nation people used it and the use spread to settlers. I have never found a recipe for this traditional chewing gum. It is used as base for paints and makes a water soluble varnish for paintings. It is the base for a japanese/chinese ink sticks. Simply dilute the gum then sieve, add fine carbon until thick then dry. Water is added to the dry stick and you have ink.

 

[Toddy]

Uhuh, I couldn't find any chewing gum recipes either. I came to the conclusion that it's probably just masticated like the pine stuff in Europe.

I went looking last night after the thread appeared.
It occurs to me that the use of cherry gum, as chewing gum, seems to be North American based, while the use of the resin as a binder, like gum arabic, in inks appears to be far Eastern. It's not even in any of my incense recipes though.

They are different species of tree. I wonder if they are cross fertile ?

I do note that our woodturners are quite insistant that all traces of sap be removed from timber before they work it.

I doubt that there is any real way outside of a laboratory to tell whether a particular tree is fine to chew or not.
I think the bitter almond scent is probably the only real indicator that we have.

cheers,
M