Berry Madness

[rachelmanija]

When my last Native Foods Nursery order arrives and is planted, I will have nine types of berries growing on my land: strawberries, blackberries (wild), raspberries (wild and cultivated), blueberries, golden currants, salmonberries, thimbleberries, salal berries, and honeyberries/haskaps.

I have never tried the latter five - please comment if you have! - and in fact only learned about them on the website. But since I've only ever encountered one berry I really dislike, I have high hopes. Except for the salal berries, which are mostly for the birds.)

Poll #26912

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 105

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I have eaten these berries FRESH (pies, sauce, jam, & dried doesn't count unless stated otherwise. You may mention that in comments though.)

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Strawberries
105 (100.0%)

Blueberries
103 (98.1%)

Raspberries
103 (98.1%)

Blackberries
101 (96.2%)

Mulberries
51 (48.6%)

Lingonberries
22 (21.0%)

Cranberries
58 (55.2%)

Boysenberries
31 (29.5%)

Cloudberries
16 (15.2%)

Currants (state color in comments)
50 (47.6%)

Serviceberries
12 (11.4%)

Honeyberries/Haskaps
7 (6.7%)

Salal berries
4 (3.8%)

Gooseberries (non-fresh counts)
51 (48.6%)

Elderberries (non-fresh counts)
34 (32.4%)

Huckleberries
25 (23.8%)

Thimbleberries
9 (8.6%)

Salmonberries
17 (16.2%)

Marionberries/ollalieberries/similar crosses
23 (21.9%)

Maypop
0 (0.0%)

Jambutica
2 (1.9%)

Other berry I will mention in comments
12 (11.4%)

Acai (okay I GUESS bowls count)
13 (12.4%)

My favorite berries are...

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Strawberries
52 (53.6%)

Blueberries
42 (43.3%)

Raspberries
62 (63.9%)

Blackberries
39 (40.2%)

Mulberries
10 (10.3%)

Lingonberries
7 (7.2%)

Cranberries
16 (16.5%)

Boysenberries
4 (4.1%)

Cloudberries
4 (4.1%)

Red currants
16 (16.5%)

White currants
1 (1.0%)

Golden currants
2 (2.1%)

Black currants
16 (16.5%)

Serviceberries
1 (1.0%)

Honeyberries/Haskaps
1 (1.0%)

Salal berries
0 (0.0%)

Gooseberries
9 (9.3%)

Huckleberries
6 (6.2%)

Thimbleberries
1 (1.0%)

Salmonberries
3 (3.1%)

Marionberries
10 (10.3%)

Ollallieberries
1 (1.0%)

Maypop
0 (0.0%)

Jambutica
0 (0.0%)

Other berry I will state in comments
2 (2.1%)

Acai (okay I GUESS bowls count)
0 (0.0%)

I HATE this berry!

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Strawberries
3 (6.5%)

Blueberries
3 (6.5%)

Raspberries
3 (6.5%)

Blackberries
4 (8.7%)

Mulberries
2 (4.3%)

Lingonberries
1 (2.2%)

Cranberries
3 (6.5%)

Acai (the berry)
3 (6.5%)

Acai (the trend)
25 (54.3%)

Boysenberries
0 (0.0%)

Cloudberries
0 (0.0%)

Red currants
4 (8.7%)

White currants
2 (4.3%)

Black currants
4 (8.7%)

Golden currants
3 (6.5%)

Serviceberries
0 (0.0%)

Honeyberries/Haskaps
0 (0.0%)

Salal berries
1 (2.2%)

Gooseberries
3 (6.5%)

Huckleberries
0 (0.0%)

Thimbleberries
0 (0.0%)

Salmonberries
0 (0.0%)

Marionberries
0 (0.0%)

Ollalieberries
0 (0.0%)

Maypop
0 (0.0%)

Jambutica
0 (0.0%)

Other berry I will state in comments
3 (6.5%)

Comments

[ratcreature]

Elderberries grow everywhere around here too, but as a kid I was always told not to eat them raw? My mom said you would get sick from them if you ate them directly, though we had them often cooked as a soup with dumplings in them. Also as a syrup and such. So you can eat them directly? Is this a matter of the amount you eat?

[ermingarden]

Okay, I just looked this up and...apparently they're poisonous when uncooked?! But only if you eat a lot of them.

So uh...don't eat a lot of them, I guess? I've never eaten more than a few at a time, and I've never experienced any ill effects.

[ratcreature]

I guess if it's a dosage thing it makes sense that I was warned as a child. Presumably it going to be worse when you are still tiny.

[zeborah]

From my research (having discovered that the berry-filled tree in my backyard is an elder) the berries themselves aren't poisonous, though the stalks are mildly so, but they apparently cause stomach upsets for some people, which cooking ameliorates.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stomach upsets comes from picking them when they're not quite ripe. You need to wait until they're really really black.

Anyway so I've been fine eating them raw, eg sprinkled on breakfast serial, but I mostly have a tub of them in my freezer and dig out a cupful from time to time to bake in muffins or with apple or peach in a crumble.

[sholio]

I was always told they were mildly poisonous when I was a kid, too! Although what I was told was that the seeds were poisonous, but since you can't easily remove the seeds when eating them fresh, then it's better to treat the whole berry as poisonous. (Hence why e.g. wine and jelly are fine, because they're made from juice after straining out the pulp.)

[ratcreature]

Hmm, the soup my mother made was strained through a sieve too before being thickened, iirc, though it was never mentioned as a safety measure.

Googling recipes I found that in Austria they apparently deep fry the flowers.