Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [nafex] cultivars of some lesser used species?

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Kieran <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] cultivars of some lesser used species?
  • Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:38:26 -0500

Barry,
You have left out something rather dear to my heart. Wild black cherry, Prunus serotina, makes terrific wine. It crops poorly here on the impoverished red and yellow clays of the HIghland Rim, and I miss it very much. The trees are here, but even on better soil I think selected specimans could make them a commercial crop. I'd like to see wild black cherries selected for precocity, dwarfing or dwarfing rootstocks, larger fruit, and especially fruit with less bitterness. For wine it doesn't matter, it has to have a certain bitterness to it. But I think that a little less bitterness might make something that could be eaten with less dilution and less sugar.
I have not seen a lot of variation in the local native hazels. Those few that may have been selected were probably selected up north. I'd think southerners also did selection, but maybe being less affluent and literate, their selections were less likely to be written up and spread around. For a number of native nut species there have been contests, sponsored by groups or more often by state and county fairs. These contests turned up some very good selections. Maybe there should be more of those contests.

Donna




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page