The berry fest continues

red currant shrubI thought I might show you the Other Berries that I have been picking these past few weeks. My pride and joy are these rare jewels; the redcurrants.

I took cuttings from Lynn and Jeff’s shrub a few years ago. The shrub is no more, but it lives on all over my garden.  But it is only this year that I have a few precious fruit.

I’m amazed I had a handful left to photograph. They are scrumptious.

I’ve put labels on the shrubs as I really can’t tell all my cuttings apart until they fruit.  Well the blackcurrants have brilliantly scented leaves. But I’m labelling to make extra sure I don’t give away these beauties.

And here is a rare sight: my mulberry is fruiting like mad. whitemulberries

You may know the normal mulberry that has juicy dark red fruit. I seem to recall we had these trees on the border of the sports oval at Seaforth Primary School.

You could tell the Seaforth Primary school kids as our pockets were invariably stained pink from putting the fruit in our pockets to munch on the way home.

White mulberries are kinder to your clothes. The fruit looks quite dessicated; but they are lovely.  As attested by the deer, foxes and wild boar who park themselves under the tree to munch on the fallen fruit.

I don’t pick them for that very reason. I have more than enough fruit in my orchard closer to the house.

whitecurrantsYou may want to call these pink currants, but they are white currants which I leave on the huge shrub in the soft fruit orchard to really ripen. And when they do they turn pink.

Do I leave them on for that reason? No. There are brambles that insist on growing right up through the centre of this bush.

So I avoid picking the fruit until I have made time to really weed well first.

And, oh look berries. No. They are not jostaberries.  blueberres

My neighbour Jean Daniel came by with a shoebox full of little juicy treats. Two kilos of blueberries. Nothing like a different fruit for a change.

They come from a village that is higher up the mountain range – St Jean Chambre is situated at around 800m.  And that is perfect for growing these acid loving berries.

I paid six euros a kilo for the fruit, and seem to recall they are around £15 in the supermarkets back in London. These berries are smaller in size. But Jean Daniel was doing a favour to the grower at St Jean and we were both delighted to take them off his hands.

So there you have it.  But I can’t leave the berry page without one shot of the ubiquitous: the jostaberries. Kilos picked every single day. Plus the last black currants and the white.

berry selection