Alan Weninger
Saskatchewan Perennial Society
I’ve always been interested in the plants that don’t get a lot of attention. Overlooked plants, like overlooked things in general, are usually interesting but don’t fit a general norm of expectations.
A fruit on a bush, for example, is expected to taste sweet and flavourful, like a saskatoon berry or a blueberry. That first bite is the dealbreaker: not sweet enough, or an unusual flavour or texture, and it will probably be the last bite.
Here are a few fruiting bushes along with my thoughts on why they continue to live in the shadows (figuratively, of course):
Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) is having a bit of a revival these days. If you’ve ever popped one in your mouth, you’ll know that the fresh taste is strongly skunky and notably different than the taste you get when it’s used in ice cream, or jam, or pie. Night and day, really.
Cooked, it is one of my favourite flavours, and I literally buy every blackcurrant thing I can get. As an alternate host for the tree-killing disease white pine blister rust, it was discouraged in cultivation, but new varieties that are disease resistant are now being grown. Once seemingly appreciated only by those of European origin, I’ve noticed that they are now part of a local U-pick operation. Blackcurrants are easily grown and bountiful.
Another uncommon currant deserves mentioning, as I always snack on it as I work in Patterson Arboretum. It is alpine currant (Ribes alpinum), and although sweet, tasty, and bright red, it’s size may be limiting its popularity. The tiny fruit is not produced in abundance and only in small clusters, nevertheless it still holds a place in my heart. If you’ve got kids, especially, this one is a winner.
Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), not to be confused with our native chokecherry, is another bountiful and misunderstood fruit bush. Eaten fresh, it would be considered an aquired taste, and texture. I’ve seen it growing in cottage gardens in Siberia, and it appears to be more popular in Europe and Asia than here in its native homeland of North America. Again, the key is to use it mostly for cooking, and not to judge it for it’s fresh taste. The fresh taste, acceptable to some, improves after it is fully ripe, usually in the late autumn. At this same time it’s glossy round leaves will be turning a vibrant red colour, a beautiful sight.
Goji berry (Lycium chinense is a species commonly cultivated here), is a brightly coloured, shiny, pepper-like fruit (same plant family as sweet peppers and tomatoes), that hang in an orderly fashion down along an arching cane of tiny leaves. It is a sprawling plant, with aspirations to be a vine if it finds a shrub or fence to grow over. I find that the fresh fruits go down easily at first, but soon the lingering taste can be described as weird. Really weird. Despite this, I have eaten them in a soup in Asia and they were a pleasant, tangy complement to the broth. It is also used in trail mixes. Black goji berry (Lycium ruthenicum), a species with smaller, very dark fruit, is also hardy here. To cultivate Goji berry you will need a full sun exposure, which mimics their native desert environment. They will not grow in shade.
There is a type of unusual shrub fruit that I really do enjoy fresh. It has a lovely flavour that often surprises people. They are hawthorn berries, and there are two species in Patterson Arboretum in Saskatoon that produce tasty fruit. I offered some to my boss at the Horticulture Field Lab a few weeks ago. “Too many seeds” she said as she spit it out. Oh well.
This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; saskperennial@hotmail.com). Check our website (www.saskperennial.ca) or Facebook page for a list of upcoming gardening events. The Saskatchewan Perennial Society will have some blackcurrant ‘Ben Nevis’ for sale at our Spring Plant Exchange in May.
