The sour chokecherry is looking sweeter these days. The demand for chokecherry jelly and syrup is good, so prices are premium for the wild fruit.

Now Colorado has the first cultivated chokecherry orchard in the nation. The research project was conceived and developed by the private sector and paid for by industry and interested citizens.

A chokecherry processor in Colorado was troubled by the undependable supply of wild berries, so he formed the Chokecherry Growers Assoc, and asked Colorado State University to conduct research.

Two acres have been set aside, fenced, and irrigated. In 1987, 600 seedlings of 4 varieties were planted.

—Excerpted from Science of Food and Agriculture. July 1990.