Nanking Mandarin Cherries

Saturday, we picked approximately 4-1/2 pounds of Nanking cherries.

cherries, along with sugar snap peas, salad turnips, and radishes

The processing of this fruit is labor intensive. I spent 1 hour pitting ~3# to make nearly 4 cups of cherries for eight 1/2-pint jars of jammy preserves. Put the rest through the food mill, then a wire sieve, to get the juice.

Here's a nice document about the Nanking Mandarin Cherry (from Minnasota point of view.)  https://misadocuments.info/nanking_cherries.pdf , with a little summary of interesting points below:

Nanking cherries are best eaten fresh off the shrub.
Nanking cherries ripen shortly after strawberries and are a welcome treat in early summer. Nanking cherries can be processed into pies or jam, but they are too small for most mechanical pitting machines. There are a number of reports of people making good wine out of Nanking cherries, and presumably good fresh juice as well.

Nanking cherries are drought tolerant, and can be grown in a variety of well-drained soils.

Nanking cherries frequently receive little or no care. For reliable fruit production, the canes need to be regularly pruned. Nanking cherries should be pruned before bloom. Dead canes can be removed any time of year. Growers should keep about ten healthy canes per plant to maximize fruit quality.

Nanking cherries have surprisingly few disease or insect problems. Deer appear to avoid Nanking cherries. They acquire few leaf diseases.

Birds love Nanking cherries, and growers should prepare to protect their plants against birds. Birds also spread seeds, and Nanking cherries can become a weed in areas near the patch where birds often perch.