They Rose above the snow

Dropped by here today actually looking for another member of the rose family which has fruit that grows on a tree and is off to the right and out of the picture, since the wind has knocked their fruit off and they are under the snow, I will instead gather a few nutritious rose fruits from some small wild roses and also these dark berried aronia fruit. These small rose hips which usually stay on their stems well into the spring are quite and interesting fruit as once they are dried and powdered they taste and smell a bit like sun dried tomatoes. The Aronia berries today feel like sultana raisins so I will simply dry them a little more and powder them as well. The last few decades both these fruits have been plentiful on their plants throughout the winter and following spring, though I can’t predict if any creatures may need these fruits if this is a tough one so this early in I’m only gathering a few for now. ciao

Advertisement

Blooming Aronia

Here we are viewing an area where at least 10 different edible wild fruits are available.

Let us focus on Aronia berry today as it is now in full bloom, to notice the blooms click on the above photo, Aronia is the dominant plant in this area and some of the local folks do gather blueberries and cranberries but leave the rest of the various fruits including tons of Aronia for me and the birds and other critters to enjoy. Aronia is in the same family as apples and roses and is considered by many to be a very healthy fruit to eat indeed. There are some interesting stories on how it became a very useful food to folks in some areas of Poland during the war years and is still quite popular there today.  If you have an interest in medicinals plants Aronia may somewhat surprise you as it is native to North America, but became acknowledged for it healthyness to at least part of its potential once it was introduced to Europe. Aronia berries are being grown commerically in Iowa in the last few years, check Aronia out.

Here is a photo from a post I did in March which shows the berries which resemble blueberries when used in muffins. ciao