Blue Dragon Clan: September 2012

Berries and Fruits

Berries are quite healthy. They are generally full of fiber, anthocyanins, antioxidants, enzymes, and other micro-nutrients. Through the summer there are plenty of wild ones. They may help ward off cancer and other maladies. The first fruits (cultivated and wild) of the year here in Ohio seem to be: the bush cherries – ie. Nanking cherries/Manchu cherries (cultivated) from China, a pleasant mix of sweet and sour;

Nanking Cherries

mulberries – good tasting and healthy and very popular with the birds; mayhaws – from the American southeast – related to hawthorn and apples and also popular with birds; and goumi berries – the cherry eleagnus (related to autumn olive) – good tasting when ripe and full of cancer-fighting lycopene (also said to be good for men). In early June the wild black raspberries are getting ripe and one of the most medicinal. We had a great blackberry crop (both wild and cultivated), blueberries (both wild and cultivated), and my fave – Japanese wineberries – these are an orange-red raspberry like fruit that has escaped cultivation and is becoming more common here in southern Ohio. They are also called ‘podberries’ among the locals – with ornamental thorny red stems and pods. I first encountered them when a colleague on a work site in deep southern Ohio announced that he found some berries that were so good he couldn’t stop eating them. I found them and had a similarly pleasant experience. I also have some Scottish raspberry/blackberry crosses – Wyeberry and Tayberry as well as mountain trailing raspberries, dewberries, and boysenberries in small amounts. In the fall there are the less palatable black haws, nannyberries, wild grapes, bush cranberries, and occasionally a few varieties of hawthorn. In July there are gooseberries and a few currants. The birds seem to get most of the big cherries from the Compact Stella – supposed to have topped out at 8-12 feet but is now about 25ft after only 6 or 7 years. I like to eat the raspberries and goumi berries when I am walking by. I often share the goumi berries with the chickens, the geese, and the turkey as they tend to follow me around the yard anyway.

Goumi Berries - ready first of June

I have had poor luck with plums as they all – and I mean all – seem to rot on the tree. Next year I plan to use the lime sulfur in the early spring. I did have one tree produce a few. I have several black chokeberry bushes but they have not been fruiting like they used too - maybe too much shade. Their skin is a bit astringent but the juice is very good so it is nice to just suck out the juice and spit the rest out. Peaches do OK including the ones that sprouted after we threw them off the porch. The raccoons tend to ghet them though. Pears generally do well. All three varieties of Asian Pear have produced quite a bit this year and the Kieffer European pear. Apples are fine but seem to require much care with the exception of a few varieties. The Paw Paws from the wild were few - only about a dozen from thousands of trees though I saw quite a few before they dropped off early and were taken by the deer. Apparently many were knocked of by the 'derecho' at the end of June. The derecho also forced us to can some of our frozen stuff from last year. We made many jams and from fresh fruits as well. Blackberry, wineberry, gooseberry, goumi, bush cherry, and a wonderfully tart Cornelian Cherry preserves that go great with yogurt. A neighbor brought us apples and Re made tons of delicious apple sauce. I had hoped to have some Brazilian guavas from a potted bush but the dry weather dried them up. I guess I need to re-pot them in a bigger pot and keep them watered better during fruiting.