For anyone that happens upon this rather extensive question and wonders about possible answers, see a similar thread posted in the Fruit and Orchards Forum, linked below. Here is a link that might be useful: Will these fruits cross-polinate - same gensus/different continen

You are 100% correct on the hawthorn hybridization, they seem ready to jump in the sack with any other hawthorn that is in bloom at the same time. A good example of natural/semi-natural inter-specific hybridization could be those blight resistant selections of american chestnut. Seeing that the Chinese chestnut is resistant, and there have been some intentional hybridizations to introduce blight resistance, I would be very surprised if there wasn't some natural inter-specific hybridization between the two; as well as with the various chinquapin species.

""Time for wine and cheese at Konrads house. Right?"" Yep!..I've been taking some out to Devonian at our annual fruit festival for tasting. I use juice only for wine. The cherries get frozen first...they're so much easier to juice after, I put about 1/2 a pail, [5 gallon bucket] with cherries then take one of those long 5 gallon paint mixer and stir until the cherries are all shredded,...the pits will come out. Then the whole soup I put through the spinner of my apple juicer, you could sift it with cheese cloth, 4 corners of the cloth tie to the chair legs, chair upside down with a bowl under, my mom used this method when making jelly. I fill the 50 L. stainless steel pressure keg, a little water, sometimes none when I have lots, sweeten with honey. [concentrated...it'll make a good hot drink with water in the winter] After I close the keg, at room temperature it might take one to two weeks until it reaches around 140PSI and stops farther fermentation,,... then I put it in the basement, in about 5 month it would be ready, there is a drain on the bottom, it'll come out as foam under this pressure....still nice and sweet for taste with about 4% alcohol. The pulp I dry....been feeding deer but now I want to use it myself for a cereal mix. ""Someday when I grow up I'll get a acreage I'll grow all sorts of stuff....."" Collin, when I was little I had this dream also, ...it got fulfilled, I'm very blessed...a labor of love thing but never regretted.

I stopped by the house nearest the chokecherries last night and met the nicest older couple. They planted the chokes and told me to take what I wanted. I plan to take some of the jam back to them as a thank you. Last year I cooked them and ran them through a sieve. It wasn't easy work and it does take quite a few since the pit is so large. This year a friend gave me a Pronto Food Strainer so I'm hoping that may work. I'll give it a try later today. We also picked lots of Mullberries. They were huge and very juicy so I'll have purple under my fingernails for days. LOL!