Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Berries

The wild raspberries are ripening.  They have such wonderful flavor for such a small berry! 

Raspberries

I picked these on our walk last night.  The wind was blowing so the skeeters were tolerable.  It is great to pick our own fruit…nothing has been sprayed on it… so they must be organic!  I shared with Far Guy and offered one to Chance…I could tell he wanted Ice Cream with his berries.  NO we just eat them plain…silly dog!

We ran across this blue berry.

Wild Sasparilla Fruit

This is the fruit of the Wild Sarsaparilla plant.

Wild Sasparilla Aralia Nudicaulis

This is what the flower of Wild Sarsaparilla or Aralia nudicaulis looks like.

I wouldn’t eat this berry…in fact I wouldn’t eat any old blue colored berry in Minnesota except for our REAL Blueberry.

I believe it is the root of the plant that is used. ( I found one reference that says the root can be used as a substitute for sarsaparilla in root beer.)

I wonder about the sarsaparilla that they used to serve in the bars of the old westerns on TV?   Was it this root soaked in water?

NOPE that sarsaparilla was made from Birch Oil and the dried root bark of the Sassafras tree.  Go figure… why did they call it sarsaparilla and not sassafras?

Learn something new every day! 

I ordered a book all about the Wild Berries found in Minnesota…this seems to be a great year for berries.  Not sure why?  The snowless cold winter and dry spring with a rainy June must make for good berries.

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21 comments:

  1. Those berries look so yummy. when I was growing up we had wild raspberry bushes growing across the street. Many a meal was ruined by my stuffing my face with those berries.

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  2. I just picked the last of our raspberries from the garden yesterday as I tore down the sugar snap peas and pitched them in the compost heap. I got three good harvests from them, but everything is so early! At least a month, maybe six weeks early. Those raspberries look scrumptious. I wouldn't have shared. :-)

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  3. Actually, I hafta to side with Chance on this one...

    :)

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    1. Wild Sarsaparilla "berries are edible but highly astringent and may cause sickness." Yeah, I'd eat something else too!

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  4. Wonderful, I have the wild blackberries. I agree, they sure do have a wonderful flavor! I think, blueberries are my favorite berry though.

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  5. We do enjoy our spring sassafras tea.

    Those raspberries look perfect.

    Watch out for berry loving bears.

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  6. Those wild raspberries look yummy! We have berries ripening here, but they are grown in farms, not wild.

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  7. Fresh raspberries are THE best when plucked and eaten on the spot!

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  8. I think finding a fist full of berries on a walk is great. I take my morning walks before breakfast and eat a few blackberries when I come across them.

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  9. Our dogs will pick their own raspberries given the chance! ha ha:) Still picking ours here. I had a customer buy some raspberry jam on Sunday that figured it was all made with wild raspberries, because the seeds seemed smaller. I told him no ( more like thinking, you've got to be kidding, since I go through about 200 lbs of raspberries a year). But our raspberries are an old variety, originally brought from the place we lived as a child, and are smaller than the newer varieties. I like to wander around, eating berries......:)

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  10. Yum -- those raspberries look scrumptious! I've never planted them, but my daughter is getting a nice crop!

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  11. I have never tasted a raspberry, that I remember. Those look delicious!

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  12. We don't have wild raspberry's here in Arkansas ( I don't think).
    When I was a kid we didn't have blueberry's that I knew of.
    But I remember my grandfather digging sarsaparilla roots. and we had lots of blackberry's.
    Your berry's are a lovely color.

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  13. Summer berries are so good, especially when picked in the hot sunshine. Maybe you'll get enough forms pie since it's s good year for them.

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  14. I have a few red raspberries to pick and they are few in number. Ice cream or on cereal will have to be the plan.

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  15. I love berries with cereal. The book you found on MN berries will be interesting.

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  16. Food right off the plant can't be beat. Food from natural plants is better yet.

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  17. Hmmm...wonder where Chance got that idea...

    Nothing like fresh-picked fruit!

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  18. Freshly-picked wild strawberries are my favourite!

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  19. YAY! For all the berries! We have wild currents here.

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

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  20. I love berries but red raspberries are my very favorites! Lucky you!

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