Interesting taste and versatile useSome wild fruits are still known by name, but elderberries, chokeberries, sloes and the like are eaten. only rarely. Thereby sea buckthorn or rose hips contain more vitamin C than lemons. However, wild fruit is not only interesting from a culinary point of view. The shrubs also have something to offer visually with their colorful flowers and colorful fruits and leaves in the garden.
Elderberry Lianem – fotolia.com_.jpg
If you not only want to look at the wild fruit, but also snack on, harvest and process it, you should look out for particularly tasty varieties with few bitter substances and unpleasant acids.
It should be noted that some wild fruits, such as ornamental quinces or sloes, are inedible raw and only develop their desired flavor when processed into jam or puree.
Culinary interesting wild fruits are presented below:
Black elderberry
Appearance/Harvest:
From mid-August, the small berries on the elderberry umbels turn dark. Since not all fruits ripen at the same time, elderberries should be harvested only when there are only two or three unripe berries left on each umbel.
Uses:
Raw elderberries should be heated before consumption, as this destroys the toxin sambunigrin they contain. Elderberries are good in taste and color in ice sorbets, milk shakes, cocktails and spritzers. In addition, the dark berries fit as a hearty sauce to barbecue and game dishes or in the form of jam to fresh bread and pastries. In the canning kitchen, all types of elderberry combine well with apples, quinces or plums.
Health Effects:
The vernacular calls the elderberry or lilac berry bush the "farmer's pharmacy". Because even today in naturopathy, blossoms, leaves, berries, bark and roots are processed into health-promoting essences for colds, kidney and bladder ailments. Because of their high vitamin C content, the wild fruits that are processed into juice. Syrup processed berries to strengthen the immune system a.
Blackthorn
Appearance/Harvest:
The black-red to blue drupes bear a strong resemblance to small, egg-shaped cherries or plums. The tart fruits ripen at the end of September, but only after the first frost do they develop their sweet and sour aroma.
Nutritional value:
In addition to fruit acids and vitamin C (around 50 mg/100g), they contain vitamins B1 and B2, carotenes, pectin, tannins and numerous minerals.
Uses:
The raw fruits are inedible. As their pulp is poorly stone-soluble, sloes are a popular fruit for preserving. In addition, the fruits are suitable for the preparation of liqueurs ("sloe fire"), for the preparation of "infusion" ("Sloe water") or savory delicacies such as sloe olives ("Eifel olives"). The ripe, whole sloes are pickled in brine for several weeks together with thyme, cloves and laurel. Alternatively, they can also be sweet and spicy as "false Amarena cherries" or with vinegar. Sugar can be preserved as a sweet and sour sloe compote. The latter goes well with various meat and game dishes.
Health effects:
The juice and the small white flowers of the blackthorn are considered in folk medicine as a proven remedy for the treatment of stomach cramps, diarrhea or gum disease. Dried and in the form of tea, they are also used to cleanse the blood and stimulate the metabolism. The apple- or pear-shaped pseudo-fruits ripen from September onwards. Grow up to four centimeters in size. They shine green to rich yellow, smell intensely of pineapple, are firm-fleshed and highly aromatic
Nutritional value:
The fruits are rich in vitamin C with 70-120 mg per 100g.
Use:
The fruits are not suitable for raw consumption because of their high acidity. Similar to the "real quince" ornamental quinces have a high pectin content and can be used to make jelly, pulp or quince bread. At temperatures of two to three degrees Celsius, they keep for up to three months after harvesting.
The rowan or mountain ash
Appearance/harvesting time:
Many small spherical orange-red fruits form abundant umbels, which are harvested from the end of August to October.
Nutritional value:
In addition to a high content of vitamin C (50 to 120 mg/100 g) rowan berries contain other health-promoting substances such as provitamin A, essential oils and anthocyanins (plant pigments).
Uses:
In their raw state, many rowan varieties are inedible due to their high content of malic acid and tannins. However, cultivated varieties that are low in bitterness or free of bitterness (noble sloes) can also be eaten fresh.
Today, the wild fruit is especially popular among gourmets. In combination with apples, pears and quinces, extraordinary jam variations with a slightly tart-sour note are created, which not only go well with pastries, but also with game dishes. In addition, the rowan is an attractive fruit for the preparation of juice, jelly, fruit wine and spirits with a fine bitter almond aroma. Poisonous – as is often claimed. Reserved only for the birds – the rowan is not.
The rosehip – fruit of the wild rose
Appearance/Harvest:
In autumn, the roundish to oval false fruits shine purple on wild hedges and shrubs. Fresh rose hips can be harvested on the wayside from September to November. They are ripe when the skin yields slightly to light finger prere and the fruit is easy to pick.
Nutritional value:
Rosehip has a high vitamin C content, ranging from 400 to 5 depending on the type of rose and the degree of ripeness.000 mg per 100 grams, which is significantly higher than the vitamin C content of lemon (51 mg/100g) and sea buckthorn (200 to 1300 mg/100g). The wild fruits are also rich in vitamins B 1 and B 2, provitamin A, as well as minerals (iron, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus), pectin, tannins and essential oils. In addition, rose hips contain abundant amounts of the red plant pigment lycopene, which acts as a free radical scavenger (antioxidant).
Usage:
Rosehip pith can be used to make savory and sweet sauces that go well with meats, stews, game, pastries and desserts. Also processed to chutneys, jams and or liqueurs, the wild fruit tastes excellent and is suitable for rounding off refined fillings.
However, the processing of the fruit is complex. Because not only the flower base and style must be removed, but also the seeds (nutlets) sitting inside the fruit capsule with their hairs. They irritate the skin and mucous membranes and are known to many from childhood as "itching powder" known. Rose hips are therefore not suitable for raw consumption. Who does not "pick" If you want to cook the fruit with a little water until soft and then pass the pulp through a strainer with very fine perforations
Health effects:
The tea from the rosehip peels was already administered in the Middle Ages with fever and infections. The infusion from the rosehip seeds is known as a natural remedy for stone diseases, urinary tract diseases and rheumatism.
The chokeberry or chokeberry
Appearance/harvest:
The deep blue blueberry-like fruits are harvested from mid-August onwards. Since the berries contain many tannins and other tannins, their taste is often described as "astringent" (astringent mouthfeel) described and compared to that of very sour black currants.
Nutritional value:
Chokeberry is rich in vitamin C, vitamin B1 and B2, vitamin E, folic acid and minerals, especially iron and iodine.
Uses:
The fruits are less suitable for raw consumption. The berries are processed into direct juice, syrup, jelly, jam or dried fruit. The wild fruit can also be used in combination with elderberries, nectarines or peaches to make tasty cold dishes, fruit soups or compotes.
Health Effects:
In naturopathy, chokeberry extracts are still used today for high blood prere, skin diseases, inflammation or liver and gallbladder problems. Because of its high content of health-promoting polyphenols, the chokeberry is often called a "miracle berry" Designates. Because the deep blue fruit contains up to five times more anthocyanins than blueberries or cranberries and also other secondary plant compounds such as flavonoids and carotenoids. These substances act as "radical scavengers" and thus have a vascular and cell-protective effect.
Sea buckthorn
Appearance/Harvest:
The spherical to oval, yellow to coral red berries are harvested from August to November.
Nutritional value:
Sea buckthorn berries are very rich in vitamin C. Depending on location and variety, 100 g of fruit contain 200 to 1.300 mg of vitamin C, many times more than lemon (51 mg/100g).
Uses:
Due to their high fruit acid content, many sea buckthorn varieties are not suitable for fresh consumption. In the form of tea, sweets, juice, spreads, oil, spirits or cosmetics, the sea buckthorn berry has gained a firm place in the assortment of organic food stores, health food stores and direct marketers in recent years.
Health Effects:
The naturopathy appreciates the sea buckthorn especially because of its high-quality oil. Both the pulp oil and the seed oil of the sea buckthorn berry are rich in vitamin E, carotene and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Used externally as well as internally, sea buckthorn oil has a healing and anti-inflammatory effect. Because of its pharmaceutical significance, sea buckthorn is now a well-known-. Eastern Europe to the most important wild fruit species in the commercial cultivation.
The rock pear
Appearance:
The purple-red to dark blue colored pea-sized berries are harvested from July to August.
Nutritional value:
berries are rich in minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and phosphorus), vitamin C, fiber, leucoanthocyanins and tannins.
Uses:
The berries can be eaten raw or made into juice, liqueur or wine. With their fine cherry, sometimes blueberry and marzipan bouquet and intense color, they also enrich cakes and pastries. Since the fruits are very high in pectin, they are also particularly suitable for jelly, jam and puree.