Don't expect too much pulp from such small things. A good way to deseed and extract all the juices is to use the Villware, Roma, Weston, Prago Trade type food strainer. This strainer only comes with a single screen for tomatoes, so you would have to also buy the OPTIONAL grape spiral for larger seeds, as well as the berry screen and others. The machine on its own with the included spiral might jam with large seeds, so they offer a shorter spiral that allows big seeds (like grape) to pass out the end. Beyond that, there is not much else you can use other than a regular sieve.

I have some of these bushes and I was thinking about just doing a jelly with it that way you don't have to pit them. I normally only do jam cause I don't like to waste fruit but the food strainer is a good idea! But between the birds and my kids, I never get any! :(

Carly

Carly, I guess I will just do the jelly. I found a couple of interesting recipes that would be more jam-ish and so would want the pulp, but it just doesn't seem worth it to try to do.

Ken, yes, I have a strainer with the various accessories including the berry one. But that still won't give me pulp which is what I was hoping for.

I love the taste of these Nanking cherries. I have wanted to plant some, hadn't got around to it, and had never tasted them till today (I bought them at the farmer's market). Now I WILL plant them!

Thanks!
Ann

If you use the regular holed screen that comes with the food strainer and use the grape spiral auger, it should give you all the pulp possible. When I run tomatoes through with the tomato screen, I use the regular spiral and always run the waste through a second time. This gives me a fairly dry waste. I use the berry screen for red raspberries due to the smaller seeds. In your case, use the screen that comes with the strainer, and use the shorter grape spiral. After a run through, put the waste through again to extract all the rest of the pulp and moisture. Nothing wasted there! Here, I planted a Montmorency cherry tree this past spring and it had a few flowers but is too young to bear any fruits. If birds get to yours, suggest that you drape a white plastic non woven fabric over the bushes, and close up any openings at the base where the winged creatues might want to sneak. in. The fabric will allow air, moisture and sunlight in, but keeps out birds and bugs. My bleberry bushes get stripped clean overnight!

We have several nanking cherry bushes and yes the fruit is small, but if you pick it at the peak of ripeness it is not too hard to just pinch squeeze the pit out of the fruti and they come out pretty clean. I have tried several other ways including strainers and my pinch and squeeze method produces the most pulp by far. Also the skins are mainly intact and that's where the natual pectin is. Steaming for juice also works well if you want jelly instead of jam. I prefer jam. Last year I canned at least 10 Lbs of flesh after pitting and made nearly a dozen small jars of jam. Had enough for 1 jar a month of use for topping on everything from homemade sourdough pan muffins to roasted lamb...yes, this tart cherry jam goes excellent with lamb and chicken.