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September 23, 1962 - Wild Fruits and Berries Wild Fruits And Berries Exclusive Sunday - Review Sketch by Melita Hofmann of Orient. Focus on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue By MELITA HOFMANN We are fortunate to again have Melita Hofmann, author of "The Book of Big Birds" (a book for the young and the young in heart) contributing to our column. To- day she has done a sketch and article for you an our local wild fruits ard berries. Ever since the first ship came to these shores man and his wife and their children have searched the woods and fields for a tasty morsel, a juicy berry, a fruit of some kind, or even a wild vege- tab!e to satisfy their hunger, or to add that finishing touch to a meal no matter how primitive or how elegant. Trees, bushes, scraggly brambles and flowering plants and vines have offered a variety of these enticing, appetiz- ing bites,'some sweet, some tart, same tantalizing. One of our longest remembered trees in America is the W i 1 d Crabapple Tree. Its never to be forgotten fragrance of beautifully colored blossoms was well known in pioneer days when, it is said, the pioneer was sure to have an apple tree in his yard and a dog by his side. Its small yellowish - green fruits ripen about October and have a sfightly bitter taste but make a delicious tart jelly and cider. The Wild Black Cher- ry, too, an early native tree of North America, commonly called Rum Cherry, has a fruit which also served our forefathers with its b i t t e r -sweet but pleasantly flavored juice for jellies, cough - syrup, wines and cordials. When in bloom the tree may be recog- nized by its clusters of w h i t e flowers arranged in drooping conical spires which transform into shiny black pea -size cherries with dark purple flesh. T h e s. e fruits are a delight to catbirds, robins, warblers and sparrows and most every other visiting bird that ventures near, so that any person wishing to make use of them must hurry. There are other, wild cherry trees as well, some with perhaps more' edible fruit than others. The Wild Red Cherry, a bushy shrub with 'slender r4&b a r k e d branches, has light -red fruit with rather sour flesh in s u m m e r. However, the Choke Cherry, a shrub or tree with rough speckled bark, has fruit varying'1ro1n red to darn crimson, is astringest and is used for jams and jellies. Another tree which served our first settlers was the Sassafras- the Indians told them about its medicinal properties. Soon it be- ca . me one of the first American trees to be widely known in Europe for- in the first c a r g o ever exported from Massachus- etts were roots of the Sassafras. The bark, roots and wood have a peasant aromatic odor and the flavor of the .bark is quite de- licious. Children in Colonial days loved to chew on a twig or juicy shoot, as did Indian chil- dren and youngsters through the ages, before the days of bubble - g u m and lollipops. And I re- member as a child enjoying "pink tea," a warming said to -be -good- for -one beverage made by o u r mother for my sister and I, by boiling sassafras sticks in water and serving with milk and sugar. Our bogs and marshlands on Long Island produce a wild berry which Americans associate with the festive days of turkey dinner — the Cranberry. However, most Americans do not even know that it is not of a bush plant but of a slender, creeping vine usually submerged in several inches of w a t e r. Quite often would -be Cranberry gatherers mistake the Partridge Berry -for the Cran- berry and diligently gather these. Whether or not they make as delightful a sauce or tart juice cocktail as the actual Cranberry does, I haven't as yet experi- mented to see. They too bear a small red berry, slightly aromatic and pleasant tasting when nibbled as one comes upon the plant in our woodsy seaside places. Deerberry, often called Swamp Huckleberry, said to be excellent in pies, can also be found on Long Island, although when eaten raw they are very sour. It is a branching shrub with s m a l l roundish or pear - shaped, green or yellow fruits with few seeds. The Black Haw, one of the Vibur, nums, a small tree which grows along the roadsides and fences, on dry or moist ground, too, has a berry -like fruit, red becoming blue - black, that is juicy and of good f l a v o r, especially when eaten out-of -doors as picked. Here, too, on Long Island, the wild fruit of the Beach P I u m entices many a visitor as well as the natives because of its fruit which makes a distinctly flavored Beach Plum jelly. It is not grown commercially to any extent as is the Cranberry, but grows w i 1 d along the edge of the Atlantic Coast beaches. It is a low, straggling, native shrub w 1 t h numerous white blossoms in the Spring, and in the fall has small, roundish, purple or crimson fruit, tough, thick - skinned and tart to the taste. Besides the B e a c h Plum, there are several o t h e r varieties of Wild Plum native to our, country, among them, the Americana, a native plum, usual- ly a small twiggy and thorny tree with stnall yellow and red fruit and the Blackthorn, a bush with short stiff thorny branches and small blue -black very acid fruit. But to Long Islanders of this section the Beach Plum is perhaps the best known. Another tantalizing fruit, t h e Common American Persimmon, which grows wild from Connecti- cu:1? to Iowa to the ,Gulf States, is'be3t fixed indelibly in mind by tasting the unripe fruit which is dectidedly puckery. However, a good frost helps to dispel t h is puckery quality, when at t h e point of maximum ripeness the skin becomes limp and loose, the flesh mushy and often unappetiz- ing in looks, but very delicious in flavor. This is the moment to pick them up from the ground to delight in their unusual flavor. The Persimmon is one of the best known trees south of t h e Mason -Dixon Line but has ven- tured northward and is occasion- ally foufid locally. In old diaries one often comes across chores or other endeav- ours, such entries as "I went a- berryin; today." Picked for its de- licious small berries, and oft mentioned from early Colonial days on, the Wild Strawberry was also known in early days as a hardy perrenial herb, n a m e d Fragaria from Latin, m e a n ing fragrant. Its tiny scarlet fruit, sweet and flavorsome are to be found in open fields or dry open woods. Blueberries and Huckleberries, too, are natives with delicious, sweet berries. Frequently c o n- fused and with names used in- terchangeably, they actually re- fer to entirely different and easily distinguished plants. The fruit of t r u e Huckleberries, a h i g h e r growing s h r u b than the Blue- berry, are easily distinguished by the ten large, bony seeds which crack loudly between the teeth when eaten and thus acquired, in early days, the name "cracker - berry". The seeds of the Blueberry are scarcely noticeable. The W i 1 d Blackberries and Wild Raspber- ries are native Brambles which since 1850 have been cultivated from the wild. To many t h e i r flavor is unsurpassed as to a naturalist friend who 'has written an enthusiastic essay on the joys of eating blackberry pie. D e w- berries, a popular name f o r forms of trailing blackberries, bear, earlier by a week or two than the upright bush variety. Their delicious fruits are excel- lent for eating as one picks or for canning, jam, juice, cordials, and, of course, pie. They are common in stony wood!ands' be- side the s h a d e d road and in copses. Another bramble, related to the Dewberry, is the W in e Berry with small soft red fruit, sweet and sometimes acid. Elderberry Bushes with showy clusters of luscious, shiny black- ish berries are now decorating our roadsides and woodlands. Both its berries and its w h i t e spring - blooming blossoms m a k e excellent wine and the berries a deficious j e 1 1 y. For jelly and wine, the Wild Grapes are excel- lent. The June Berry w h i c h grows on the woodland S h ad Bush, are purple - black, e d i b le berries once enjoyed by the Indi- ans. The white flowers of this member of the Rose F a m i l y m a k e this p l a n t conspicuous against pale greens in e a r liesti Sprang. The Wild Roses, the Rosa Ru -` gosa, and the Eglanteria, or Sweet Brier, also have fruit which many find make delectable con- serve, jam, or jelly. Their large red "hips" conspicuous at t h i s time of year are said to be rich in Vitamin C and have long been used medicinally as remedies of various sorts. Here, with berries, for a touch of whimsy, shall we include the fruits of the Common Juniper, used in making, not only oil but gin, too. FIELD OBSERVATIONS J Bennett and P Stoutenburgh Report: September 15 Inlet Island, Moriches Bay Sanderling Semi - palmated Plover Piping Plover Knot Marbled Godwit Black Skimmer Laughing Gulr Blue- winged Teal Black Duck Oystercatcher Common Tern Forster's Tern Osprey Snowy Egret American Egret Night Hawk Great Blue Heron Marsh Hawk Crow Yellow -legs Cormorant Sparrow Hawk Ringabilfed Gull.' (large flock)