Prunus mahaleb

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Prunus

species: mahaleb

Also known as mahaleb cherry, perfumed cherry, St. Lucie cherry.

As part of the Urban Permaculture Design Course I am taking we were given the optional assignment of selecting a plant and preparing a very brief presentation of it, in any form we chose: painting, writing, cooking and so forth.

I decided to present Prunus mahaleb as a blog entry, and you’ll know the reason for my choice at the end of this post.

Warning: According to the Plants For A Future website, “Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, it belongs to a genus where most, if not all the members of the genus produce hydrogen cyanide, a poison that gives almonds their characteristic flavor. This toxin is found mainly in the leaves and seeds....”, “In small quantities, hydrogen cyanide has been shown to stimulate respiration and improve digestion, and is also claimed to be of benefit in the treatment of cancer. In excess, however, it can cause respiratory failure and even death” (1).

The Mahaleb cherrry is native to Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Caucasus, Soviet Middle Asia, Central and Southern Europe (2). It has naturalized in parts of the United States, and is considered an invasive by the Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council (3), but not by the Corfin Center for Biodiversity of the University of Wisconsin, which describes it as a “cultivated alien species that rarely escapes”(4).

Habitat: dry hillsides, thickets and open woods.

Growing conditions: requires well drained soil, and grows best in poor, calcareous soil. Can grow in full sun or partial shade. Drought resistant.

Appearance: shrub to 30 ft. tree. Small leaves, almost as wide as they are long. The fruits, barely 1 cm. in size, are black when ripe, and bitter. The seed is large in relation to the size of the fruit.

Uses:

Its most common use, in the United States and elsewhere, is as rootstock for sweet or sour cherry cultivars.

Dyes can be made from the leaves and from the fruit.

The wood is used for carving ornamental objects such as pipes and walking sticks.

In Greece, Turkey and Armenia the dried and ground seed has been used for centuries as a spice for breads and pastries.

As a tonic - in very small amounts the poisonous compounds produced by the seed are thought to stimulate respiration, improve digestion and promote a sense of well-being (see WARNING above).

Environmental: erosion control; graft stock; ornamental; shade/shelter.

(1) (2) (5)

From a permaculture perspective I could see the mahaleb cherry as a secondary or support tree in a fruit tree guild with figs, almonds, and cultivated cherries.

And now, for the part why I like this plant.

For generations my mother’s family, which for the most part is from the region of Puglia in Italy, and specifically from the province of Foggia, has made a liqueur from the bitter little fruits of the mahaleb. From the time I moved to Italy as a child to this day, a visit to one of my relatives, many of whom live in or near a town called Torremaggiore, always includes a choice between two homemade liqueurs, either in the hours just before lunch or just before dinner. One of the liqueurs is Nocino, made from walnuts still in their green hulls, and the other is Amarenella, also known as Mirinello.

The last time my brother and I were in Italy together, we discovered a small mahaleb cherry tree growing where a cultivated cherry had once stood. It was full of fruit, so we picked all we could, filled two large jars, covered them in 95% ethyl alcohol, which in Italy you can buy at the supermarket, and brought them back to the States, where we completed the process of making Amarenella. Unfortunately, with the current airport security regulations concerning liquids on planes, we won’t be able to do that again!

In 1999 the Mirinello liqueur of Torremaggiore was given official status as a traditional product of Italy, by decree of the Ministry of Agriculture. Research carried out at the School of Food Technologies and Chemistry of an Italian university found that what gives Mirinello its distinctive “bitter-almond” flavor are coumarin derivatives (coumarin and herniarin) which are also responsible for making it a digestive tonic, with sedative and vasodilator properties (6).

The recipe we use for the “Liquore di amarenelle” is our Aunt Flora’s, my mother’s sister. Italian liqueur recipes always call for ethyl alcohol, which as I mentioned is readily available in Italy, but illegal in most States, as far as I know, and probably with good reason. So perhaps you could substitute sour cherries for the mahaleb cherries and the strongest vodka available for the ethyl alcohol, using less water or no water at all.

Liquore di amarenelle

one litre of ethyl alcohol

500 gr. of very ripe mahaleb cherries

After the cherries have marinated for two months, remove them from the infused alcohol, and for every litre of liquid add a sugar syrup made from 400 gr. of sugar and 300 gr. of water. After 78 days filter the liqueur.

You may add white wine to the used cherries to make “amarenelle” wine.

References

(1) Plants For A Future

(2) GRIN - United States Department of Agriculture

(3) Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council

(4) University of Wisconsin - Cofrin Center for Biodiversity

(5) Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages

(6) Il Mirinello verso la DOP