Friday, August 3, 2007

Adventures in Berry Picking

Don, Cyan, Logan and I took a nice long walk around our neighborhood yesterday. We foraged a few blackberries that are so prevalent here this time of year, and then saw this:

I read up on it in my wild plants book last night and they said that this variety of berry (called Rubus, meaning Ruby, but names berries that have one seed per part and a cluster of parts on one fruit, also covers the hollow varieties (raspberries) as well as the solid varieties (most blackberries)) has NO poisonous varieties. I was thinking what would fit in better with Pioneer Week than foraging native, wild berries and making something out of them?

This particular type of Rubus berry, called a "Creeping Cloudberry", apparently grow from the northern part of North America all the way into the Arctic Ocean. So when you find Rubus berries, creeping, vining, or on stalks, red, black, purple, or orange, eat them all and file the site they grew on away for next year to get more (nearly exactly in those words in my Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them by Katie Letcher Lyle)...

I took Cyan and Logan on a walk this morning with my picking baskets and we picked a bunch! We found, to our dismay, that they also have little thorns, but it just reinforced the fact that they were in this family and this type of berry. They have a sweet tart flavor, very similar to a Salmonberry, but a bit sweeter. Like a VERY light flavored blackberry. They will make something yummy for dessert tonight.

I am going to try to move a piece of the plants the 10 blocks into my yard and trellis them... that would be awesome.

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7 comments

Anonymous said...

Hellooo...those berries look so beautiful, totally delicious! I *love* berries and cherries.

I am sorry I haven't gotten back to you with the link to my blog...I have just moved a few things tonight.
http://theknifemakerswife.typepad.com/my_weblog/

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Kate Talley

Katie said...

Those berries look so good :)
What did you end up doing with them?

Val in the Rose Garden said...

We are making berry bars... I will put those up on our sites today. I am having trouble deciding whether to put this up on the kids web page or mine... I just don't know.

Val

Walter Jeffries said...

Beautiful berries. I've never seen them that color!

Val in the Rose Garden said...

They were great Walter. Really really great. I have since gone back three times and backed away in my freezer 3 quart bags of them so I can make the berry bars again and just have them stored up. Beautiful and wonderful flavor. I really want to move a plant to my yard. I will have to see if I can find a little one to dig up and migrate. ;)

Thanks for the comment.

Val

Anonymous said...

thanks for writing about this plant and berry. Just found a huge patch in town also right by the road and wondered what it was and how to get them growing at my place.

Unknown said...

Thanks for writing about this plant!! I also found a patch and for the life of me couldn't figure what it was. So thank you! I took a piece too to transplant. How has that worked out for you?

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