[nafex] Berry abundance

I have observed that since a Mockingbird took up residence in my
orchard, I am gifted with many more fruits and berries. My Goumis and my
Illinois Everbearing mulberry are loaded with fruit. Among the years
before the Mockingbird arrived, only unripe fruit would survive the bird
mobs on these plants.

I am very grateful.

I had enough Goumis to try processing this year. I have a Red Gem and a
Sweet Scarlet bush. I find the Sweet Scarlet fruit superior in size and
flavor, it is sweeter and has more flesh around the seed. Picking was a
bit laborious- I had to look and feel the berries to find the soft and
ripe ones. Shaking the bush did not yield the number I had hoped,
leaving most of the ripe, undamaged fruit on the bush. The berries are
astringent when not fully ripe. I see why they are not commercially
available - they are so fragile. The weight of two inches of berries in
the pail crushed the lower berries.

I washed the fruit, separated out the flower ends and boiled/reduced the
mass of soft berries. I strained the seeds and stems out and was left
with a sweet tart puree that reminds me in color and flavor of a
strawberry and rhubarb mixture - no sugar added. Yum.

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC
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