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

[isis]

Thimbleberries grow lushly wild in my local mountains. They're similar to raspberries but less flavorful and kind of oddly soft. It's like, raspberry drupes explode in your mouth, thimbleberry drupes just sort of squish.

We also have wild strawberries, which are the best and alas have ruined me for commercial strawberries; wild raspberries; and wild huckleberries, which alas seem to rarely flower and fruit nowadays.

[rachelmanija]

Oh dear. That does not sound appealing. Well, if I hate them, the birds can have them.

[rachelmanija]

The seem controversial.

“I love the flavor of thimbleberry,” says Bencie. “I describe it as eating red velvet."

OK, it’s niche. But this weekend Keweenaw County is celebrating its 8th Annual Thimbleberry Festival, complete with thimbleberry sundaes.

“A festival?!” cries Tharon O’Dell, a forester with Green Diamond Resources’ California Timber Division, over the phone. “You’d be hard-pressed to get a festival going here for thimbleberries. And it’d be a pretty weird group of people if you did. Have you tried them? They taste like a caterpillar. They’re hairy.”

[isis]

"Eating red velvet" actually captures the weird soft mouthfeel experience pretty well!

I definitely eat them when I encounter them hiking, if they're ripe. But it's not my favorite berry by a long shot.