Wild Berries and Currants for Survival

Few hours leaving a brother who was three years older than I, at home with me with instructions not to get into mischief. We went down a lane to a large open woods where thousands of May Apples were at their very best. Some were nearly as large as the eggs of a chicken. We filled our hats to overflowing, then sat under a tree near the house to enjoy them. They were delicious, and it was the first time that I could eat all the May Apples that I wanted and not have someone around to say “no.” Half an hour later I was rolling on the ground with the worst colic that one could imagine. I felt certain that I was going to die but hoped to put off the fatal moment until my parents returned. An hour or two later the dis- comfort left me without any ill effects; but I shall never forget the agonizing experience.<Callout type="warning" title="Poisonous May Apple">The May Apples we ate were actually poisonous, causing severe colic.</Callout> RED GARDEN CURRANT Ribes vulgare Tue Garden Currant with its nearly erect branches, almost smooth, three- to five-lobed leaves, and racemes of yellowish green flowers followed by plump juicy berries, red when mature, has escaped to fence rows, open woods, and thickets from Massachusetts to Virginia, and west to Wisconsin; also in Oregon and Washing- ton, This shrub, a native of Europe, and commonly planted in gardens is familiar to all. The berries range from a quarter to a third of an inch in diameter and are famous for pies and jellies. Uncultivated 15 Garden Currant plants generally bear smaller and fewer berries than plants growing in a garden.<Callout type="tip" title="Garden Currants">For better yields, cultivate garden currants rather than wild ones.</Callout> AMERICAN RED CURRANT, OR SWAMP RED CURRANT Ribes triste Tuis is a low shrub with reclining branches which often take root. The leaves, three- to five-lobed, are very similar to those of the Garden Currant. They are smooth above and white woolly or downy beneath. In the southern part of its range, the leaves are nearly smooth beneath. The grayish brown or purplish flowers, in racemes, are borne on the old wood. The smooth red berries, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, are quite firm and sour. They are ripe in midsummer. This currant is found in wet woods and bogs from Newfound- land to Alaska, south to New England, Michigan, and South Da- kota. The fruit is of value for pies and jellies.<Callout type="important" title="Ripe Berries">Ensure berries are ripe before consuming; unripe currants can be sour.</Callout> FETID CURRANT, OR SKUNK CURRANT Ribes prostratum Ribes glandulosum Tuis native shrub spreads its light brown, almost straw-colored branches on the ground. The nearly round heart-shaped leaves have from five to seven lobes. The racemes of greenish flowers stand erect. The red berries, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, con- tain a few glandular bristles or hairs. The plant is found from Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to New England, Michigan, and Minnesota, and along the mountains to North Carolina. When handled or bruised it emits a disagreeable odor. The berries are of a peculiar taste and some- what sour.<Callout type="warning" title="Skunk Currant">Avoid eating Skunk Currants; they have an unpleasant smell when bruised.</Callout> Wild Black Currant , 16 WILD BLACK CURRANT Ribes floridum Ribes americanum Tuis erect shrub grows three to five feet high. The leaves are sharply three- to five-lobed, each lobe with doubly serrate teeth. The flowers, arranged in a raceme, are yellowish white. They ap- pear with the same buds as the leaves. The shining black berries, when ripe, are nearly round, smooth, and from a quarter to a third of an inch in diameter. They are used for pies and jellies but have a peculiar flavor disliked by many persons; othe:s are fond of them. They ripen in summer. This currant is found from New Bruns- wick to Manitoba and southward.<Callout type="tip" title="Black Currants">Some people enjoy the taste, while others find it disagreeable.</Callout> Missouri, or Golden, or Buffalo Currant Ribes aureum Ribes odoratum ‘The Golden Currant is a native shrub found from Minnesota to Texas west to Washington and California, but is frequently cul- tivated throughout the East as an ornamental shrub and sometimes escapes to waste lands and woods. It grows from four to eight feet high with slender curving branches. The leaves taper to the base that is broadly wedge-shaped, and have three cut-toothed lobes. The flowers, which appear early in May, are arranged in short racemes with leafy bracts. The blossoms are almost an inch long, golden yellow with a pleasing spicy odor; hence the common name of Clove Bush. The fruit is black, occasionally yellow, with rather an insipid flavor. The bushes apparently do not bear well in the East, prob- ably because of the lack of proper insects to pollinate the blossoms. Some people enjoy the fruit, but it is disagreeable to others. Good pies and jellies are made from it. The Crandall, a form cultivated for its fruit, was developed from this species.<Callout type="important" title="Pollination">Proper pollination by insects is crucial for Golden Currant yields.</Callout> The Golden Currant was first collected by Captain Lewis, on the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the continent in 1805. He apparently found it along the headwaters of both the Missouri and Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) the Columbia River. Several times in their Journal, they speak of feasting on wild currants.<Callout type="tip" title="Historical Use">Lewis and Clark documented using wild currants for sustenance.</Callout> The Indians used dried currants for the making of pemmican— a food produced by pounding together dried buffalo meat and fruit then mixed in fat or tallow. The mass was then formed into loaves or cakes and could be transported on long journcys.<Callout type="important" title="Pemmican">Dried fruits like currants are excellent for long-term storage.</Callout> WILD, OR PRICKLY, GOOSEBERRY Ribes Cynosbati Grossularia Cynosbati Tue Prickly Wild Gooseberry is a graceful shrub three or four feet high with long drooping branches. The leaves, which are from one to two inches broad, nearly round as to general outline with from three to five lobes, and a heart-shaped base, are generally in clusters of three or four with one or more prickles or spines near the base of each cluster. There are also a few spines along the twigs Wild Gooseberry 18 and branches. From one to three greenish flowers appear in the same cluster with the leaves. The brownish red or purplish berries, about half an inch in diameter, are generally armed with numerous prickles, but sometimes are nearly smooth. They ripen in July and August and are pleasantly flavored. This shrub is found in rocky woods from Maine to North Caro- lina and Alabama, west to Manitoba and Missouri. The bushes vary wonderfully as to the size and quality of the fruit.<Callout type="tip" title="Gooseberries">Handle wild gooseberries with care due to their prickles.</Callout> I have never Wild Gooseberry (Ribes Cynosbati) found the wild gooseberry larger or better than in the Allegheny plateau in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. ‘The Moun- tain Gooseberry, a cultivated variety, was developed from this species, On account of the prickly character of the berries, they have to be eaten with care; but when ripe they are pleasant, and the sub- acid quality makes them especially desirable for quenching thirst. This wild fruit is excellent for pies, jellies, and preserves. I have gathered the berries by the quart and can testify as to their merit. Gooseberry pie was famous in colonial times.<Callout type="important" title="Quality Variance">Wild gooseberries vary greatly in size and quality.</Callout> Wild Gooseberry Julia E. Rogers in her Book of Useful Plants says: ‘We who have picked the small, but sprightly, green gooseberries of the woods, both the prickly and the smooth ones, know that no cultivated form, no matter how wild it is, can excel in rich flavor the sauce they make. It is worth while to grow wild gooseberries, in order to have them spiced for serving with roast fowl and game in winter. 19 Wild Gooseberry Julia E. Rogers in her Book of Useful Plants says: ‘We who have picked the small, but sprightly, green gooseberries of the woods, both the prickly and the smooth ones, know that no cultivated form, no matter how wild it is, can excel in rich flavor the sauce they make. It is worth while to grow wild gooseberries, in order to have them spiced for serving with roast fowl and game in winter.<Callout type="tip" title="Flavor">Wild gooseberries are highly flavorful when ripe.</Callout> Smooth-FrUITED GOOSEBERRY, OR NORTHERN GOOSEBERRY Ribes oxyacanthoides Grossularia oxyacanthoides Tuis shrub grows from two to four feet high with slender, re- clining branches. The spines are less numerous than and not so long as those of the last species. The leaves are alternate, rather deeply three- to five-lobed. The lobes are irregular or toothed. The ander surface of the leaves is soft pubescent. The flowers are greenish purple or nearly white. The round fruits on short stems are each about half an inch in diameter, smooth, reddish purple with a bloom when ripe. The skin is quite thin, and the flavor is agree- able. The Smooth Gooseberry grows in low grounds and wet woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba and British Columbia, south to southern New York, Michigan, and Montana. It is the parent of Houghton, Downing, and other cultivated varieties.<Callout type="important" title="Parentage">Smooth gooseberries are the ancestors of many cultivated varieties.</Callout> I am sorry that I did not know this wild fruit when I was a boy. I have gathered it in the northern part of New York State near the St. Lawrence River and enjoyed eating the berries. It is ex- cellent for the making of pies and jellies. The berries are ripe in midsummer.<Callout type="tip" title="Ripe Berries">Smooth gooseberries are best when fully ripe.</Callout> GOOSEBERRIES Oruer species of gooseberries are found growing in this country, but they are generally not so common or so valuable for their fruit. Among them are the following: Missouri, or Slender, Gooseberry (Ribes gracile, Grossularia missouriensis), with a few spines and prickles, three- to five-lobed leaves, and white flowers. The smooth, brown or purplish berries are about half an inch in diameter. Minnesota to South Dakota, and south to Illinois, Tennessee, and Kansas.<Callout type="tip" title="Varieties">Different varieties of gooseberries exist with varying characteristics.</Callout> Bristly Gooseberry (Ribes setosum, Grossularia setosa), with rather long spines and numerous bristles. White flowers and red to black fruit, generally with some bristles but sometimes smooth. Found in thickets and on lake shores, western Ontario to Mani- toba, south to Nebraska and Wyoming.<Callout type="warning" title="Bristly Gooseberry">Handle Bristly Gooseberries carefully due to their spines.</Callout> Eastern Wild Gooseberry, or Smooth Gooseberry (Ribes rotun- difolium, Grossularia rotundifolia), with few short spines and prickles or none, short greenish purple flowers and purple berries about one-third of an inch in diameter. Western Massachusetts, southeastern New York, south along the mountains to North Caro- lina.<Callout type="important" title="Geographic Variance">Wild gooseberries vary by region.</Callout> European or Garden Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia, Gros- sularia reclinata), with stout spines at the nodes, usually three to- gether, and scattered prickles, and large nearly round berries, often with weak bristles, has escaped in places in New York and New Jersey. In their Journal, Lewis and Clark record feasting in western Montana on a great variety of wild berries and purple, yellow, and black currants, which were delicious and more pleasing to the palate than those grown in their Virginia home gardens.<Callout type="tip" title="Historical Use">Wild fruits provided sustenance for early explorers.</Callout> WILD, VIRGINIA, OR SCARLET STRAWBERRY Fragaria virginiana Tuis well known plant is too common to need description. The leaves come from the roots and are on long stems or petioles covered with soft hairs. They are composed of three broad leaflets with saw-toothed edges. The white flowers are borne on stems shorter than those of the leaves. The red pulpy berries are ripe in June or July, according to locality and season. The seeds, or achenes as botanists call them, are imbedded in little pits on the surface. The fruit ripens in early summer. The range of the Scarlet Strawberry is from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan and on south to Florida, Texas, and Arizona. A northern form with narrower leaflets and more oblong fruit has been described as a separate species (Fragaria canadensis). 1 find apparently no difference in the flavor of the fruit. It was Dr. William Butler who said of strawberries, “Doubtless 2 Wild Strawberry God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” The wild strawberry has a delicacy of flavor all its own rarely ap- proached by the cultivated varieties. Another naturalist, a great lover of this wilding, wrote: “I had rather have one pint of wild strawberries than a gallon of tame ones.” Taking these two statements into account, it would seem that the wild strawberry is the most delicious of all our wild fruits. I think I would agree, and I say this just after partaking of a dish of these wild berries, gathered and prepared by my own hands, and served with sugar and cream. There are several other kinds of wild fruits that are close rivals, that are found in much greater abundance and are of less trouble to gather, but I can recall none that have such an appeal to the eye, the sense of smell, and that of taste.<Callout type="important" title="Flavor">Wild strawberries offer a unique flavor experience.</Callout> The thought of wild strawberries always leads me back to boy- hood, to green fields and running brooks with bobolinks in the meadows, bumblebees on the clover, and butterflies in air. We saw so many things besides the strawberries we gathered to appease our appetites or to take home for dessert. I was recently given a small jar of wild strawberries that were taken fresh from the field, carefully washed ; some syrup was added, and then they were cured or preserved, by some means, only in the hot sun. The berries remained whole, but they were delicious.<Callout type="tip" title="Preservation">Wild strawberries can be preserved for later use.</Callout> EUROPEAN WOOD STRAWBERRY Fragaria vesca Tuis plant greatly resembles the last species but is generally more robust, and the flower stems are usually longer than the leaves. The fruit is more conical, and as a general thing, is larger than that of the Virginia strawberry. The seeds are not imbedded but in- stead, are found on the nearly smooth surface. The berries are red. ‘The plant is found in the eastern states in fields, along roadsides, and in dry open woods. This plant appcars to have been introduced from Europe; but that is questionable, as there is a native variety, somewhat smaller, that is found in open rocky woods from New Brunswick to New Jersey and west to Oregon. A variety with creamy white berries, sweet and delicious, is found from western New York to West Virginia. This white-fruited form was the Wild Strawberry 22 strawberry that I knew best as a boy. I often gathered it by the pint. My grandfather cultivated it in his garden seventy-five years ago. Under cultivation, the fruit is said to be much larger than the wild form, The mere mention of wild strawberries takes many of us back to the scenes of our youth and I am sorry for the boy or girl who European Wood Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) has never had the experience that was John Greenleaf Whittier’s as a barefoot boy: With thy red lip, redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill.<Callout type="important" title="Cultivation">Wild wood strawberries can be cultivated for larger fruit.</Callout> The California Strawberry, Fragaria californica, is a western species with smal] but delicious berries. A variety of the eastern strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, also grows in California. Dr. Hall says, “Visitors to the Yosemite are not long in locating the straw- berry beds and filling their baskets with the luscious fruit.” 23 Purple-Flowering Raspberry PURPLE-FLOWERING, OR VIRGINIA, RASPBERRY Rubus odoratus Tuis shrubby plant grows from three to five feet high. It has no prickles; but the stems are bristly, and the younger twigs are covered with sticky hairs. The large leaves, sometimes nearly a foot across, are from three- to five-lobed, with heart-shaped bases. The large, showy purple blossoms are sometimes two inches in Purple-Flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus) diameter. The fruit is a flattened red berry, ripe in July and August. The plant is found from Nova Scotia to Georgia and west to Michigan and Tennessee. The berries are generally referred to as scarcely edible, probably because they are slightly insipid. I find they are rather pleasant, and I have seen a group of boys eat them with enjoyment.<Callout type="tip" title="Edibility">Purple-flowering raspberries can be enjoyed by some.</Callout> I have gone berrying with friends to “burnt lands” of northern New York where these raspberries were abundant. They were gathered along with blackcaps and red raspberries all mixed together and used for pies, jams, and jellies.<Callout type="important" title="Mixing Berries">Mixed berries can be used in various recipes.</Callout> I have taken the large leaves of this species and folded the edges together, pinning them with the long spines of the hawthorn in order to make vessels to carry home wild fruits of various kinds when I came across them unexpectedly in the woods.<Callout type="tip" title="Storage">Use natural containers like folded leaves for carrying berries.</Callout> The Salmonberry, or White-Flowering Raspberry, also called Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), is very similar to the preced- ing species. The blossoms are white of about the same size, and the leaves and fruit are about the same as the purple-flowering species. The stems are less bristly and clammy. It ranges from Michigan and Minnesota west to Alaska and California, and south to Colorado and Utah. It is often abundant in the far Northwest, and is much used by both Indians and whites.<Callout type="important" title="Abundance">Salmonberries can be found in abundance in certain regions.</Callout> WILD RED RASPBERRY Rubus strigosus Tuis raspberry grows from two to five feet tall, is somewhat shrubby, and has numerous glandular bristles and scattered small- hooked prickles on the stem. The leaves are composed of three to five irregular, saw-toothed leaflets which are whitish, downy be- neath. The flowers are white or greenish white, about half an inch across. The fruit, which is ripe from July to September, is light red, juicy, and very pleasing to the taste. The wild red raspberry is native from Newfoundland and Lab- rador to Manitoba and British Columbia, and south in the Rockies to New Mexico, and in the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina.<Callout type="important" title="Seasonal Availability">Wild raspberries are best when ripe in late summer.</Callout> I have gathered it there on sunny slopes from 2,500 to 3,700 feet altitude, where the plants were larger and the berries bigger than they are at lower elevations. This is certainly one of our best wild fruits.<Callout type="tip" title="Altitude"&gt