North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] mountain ash utility

One would expect the seeds to be much like those in Amelanchier, in which you can eat the fresh berries if you don't chew the seeds, or else cook the fruit to break down the cyanide.
    There are actually quite a few species of Mt. Ash (Sorbus) with edible fruit.  The English have been using many for years.  
    I have some of the "lookalike" types from easten Europe that lack the bitterness of the common ornamental types, and some of the S. domestica types that have to be "bletted" to be eaten.  The latter has some serious quirks, though.  One is that they can't be grafted by ordinary means.  The other is that  the wood is incredibly hard.  There may be a connection there. 
    The NCGR at Corvallis, OR has a collection of Sorbus, most of which have fruit that is edible (though maybe not always palatible).  Most of the edible ones are mainly mildly sweet, somewhat mealy fruit types.  Not great, but interesting as an edible ornamental.
-Lon Rombough

> This question is from a string (WI, Madison area) discussing native vs 
> european mountain ash, and uses for them.  Any replies from nafexers ?
>
> tc
>
>
>
> I didn't even know there's a non-native mountain ash until I read this.
> Glad to find out that it's the ugly one (you know, in my opinion).  I prefer
> the smaller red fruits to the big orange ones, which seem a little gaudy to
> me.  (Of course, some who know my taste in flower colors and combinations
> will wonder how I can judge anything to be gaudy...)
>
> Anyone have more info on distinguishing the two?  Anyone know about the
> safety of drinking tisane from the leaves/bark (i.e., are there any problems
> with cyanide, as there are in cherry bark and apple seeds)?
>
> Kathryn