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nafex - [nafex] Berry abundance

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  • From: Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>
  • To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [nafex] Berry abundance
  • Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 17:55:57 -0400

I have observed that since a Mockingbird took up residence in my orchard, I am gifted with many more fruits and berries. My Goumis and my Illinois Everbearing mulberry are loaded with fruit. Among the years before the Mockingbird arrived, only unripe fruit would survive the bird mobs on these plants.

I am very grateful.

I had enough Goumis to try processing this year. I have a Red Gem and a Sweet Scarlet bush. I find the Sweet Scarlet fruit superior in size and flavor, it is sweeter and has more flesh around the seed. Picking was a bit laborious- I had to look and feel the berries to find the soft and ripe ones. Shaking the bush did not yield the number I had hoped, leaving most of the ripe, undamaged fruit on the bush. The berries are astringent when not fully ripe. I see why they are not commercially available - they are so fragile. The weight of two inches of berries in the pail crushed the lower berries.

I washed the fruit, separated out the flower ends and boiled/reduced the mass of soft berries. I strained the seeds and stems out and was left with a sweet tart puree that reminds me in color and flavor of a strawberry and rhubarb mixture - no sugar added. Yum.

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC




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