North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>]

Hi All,
I have been eating and enjoying this plant since I could walk. Just a 
few thoughts: I find the berries tasty, but I don't mind hawthorne 
fruits and crabapples either. Freezing them in ice cubes or adding to 
jello can be nice, as well as mint chutneys and lamb. The leaves and 
berries are supposedly harmful in some amount, but I actually don't 
care. Saponins? Aspirin-like compounds from what I understand on 
beneficial side...does anyone know more about this plant's chemistry? 
The leaves lose their potency quickly as I found as a boy, wanting to 
savor the taste for winter tea I dried some and ended up with water 
tasting like...a boiled teapot. I learned to make a fresh leaf tea with 
milk and honey. Yummy for upset tummies, although it may be actually an 
irritant? Poultice for eczema, soon to be tried, a folk remedy. 
Essential oil for dandruff...and a nice smelling head! Better odor than 
that tar soap a family member uses I suspect! I have wondered about 
essential oil or making a liquer. I have never done it though. From a 
plant perspective, leaf tea useful for scale and thrips (maybe a 
preventative? treatment?), as well as maybe bacterial splotch? But I 
might suspect that over use would harm root zone organisms, especially 
in potted plants, considering essential oils and tannins. I notice they 
also don't break down very fast.
Best,
Heron, zone 4b

On Mon Sep 20 19:00 , mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net> sent:

>Really interesting how relative terms like sweet & bitter are.  Ive 
>been chewing wintergreen leaves since I was a wee lad & would never 
>think to describe them as bitter.  A pignut maybe...   I'd love to 
have 
>enough wintergreen leaves to try to extract oil or essence with my 
>steam juicer. ~mIEKAL
>
>On Monday, September 20, 2004, at 04:58 PM, list@ginda.us wrote:
>
>>
>> The fruits are edible, but not worth eating, in my opinion.  The 
>> flavor is mild, the consistency is sort of waxy, and there's no 
>> sweetness to speak of.  I prefer to chew on the leaves, which are a 
>> little bitter and have a pronounced wintergreen flavor.  They aren't 
>> sweet, either, but I don't miss it in a leaf.
>>
>> Ginda
>
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