I came across some trees on my property in the past few weeks that are covered with fruit that look like small cherries. I am hesitant to forage for any berry that I haven’t positively identified, especially red ones that i have no prior experience with. But man, do these things look just like tiny cherries.
Does anyone have any experience/thoughts on these:
I am no expert so I’m not saying definitly eat them (as if you would eat them because I said so!) but they look like cherries, the stems and grouping look like cherries, and the bArk looks like cherry. I would cut one open and see if it smells like a cherry and has a pit. I would also do what mushroom foragers like me do and look up if it has a poisenous look-alike. My guess is its a dwarf cherry or wild cherry. What would give me the most confidence is if Near the bottom of the tree you could find a graft, then you would know it was cultivated.
Choke cherries?
I was wondering about that, but I always thought they were grouped in clusters.
Do you have a University Extension that you can bring it to for identification?
I am no expert, but they may be pin cherries. They are pretty common in the northeast. I would bring them for someone to id before trying them. They may taste like burning.
Pin cherries are a good guess, the’re pretty common in New England.
I would clip a small branch with a few leaves and fruit and take them into a good nursery and see if they can id them.
Apparently you can make jelly from pin cherries. http://puttingupwiththeturnbulls.com/2010/08/30/pin-cherry-jelly/
The leaves look like cherry leaves and pictures on the internets look very similar. Definitely contact your Ag university extension or a green house you trust before tasting any though.
Paul
I popped one in my fingers and there was a single cherry-like pit. I’m pretty sure they are pin cherries. I ended up tasting one after taking a tiny nibble the previous day. It was tart and slightly astringent. I don’t think I’ll get a chance to harvest enough to do anything with them before they go overripe and shrivel/fall off the trees. I might have to try them next year in a mead.
Mmm cherry mead is a favorite. We planted 5 dwarf cherries in our orchard a few years ago. This year is the first year we had a few cherries. Next year I hope to have enough for a mead. We have a few pin cherries on our property but their too tall to harvest.
