Fresh fruits and berries from childhood...

I think back to all the fruits I would eat off trees without thinking twice about how good I had it! I grew up in a small town and everyone had trees that bore fruit,now that I live in a large city it's really hard to find them in my neighborhood. What memories do you have? This is what I used to eat either in my grandmothers' yards or neighbors:

mulberries
rasberries and blackberries
figs (my absolute favorite, my hubby's g-ma has a good size tree)
pommegranites
peaches (very tiny ones,though)
kumquats
sugar cane
dates

and my grandfather along with the sugarcane also grew squash, green tomatoes, and jalapeños that my grandmother used in her cooking.

And dew berries. For the uninitiated, dew berries are like very small very sweet blackberries.

Daddy had a huge fig tree. I don't remember ever washing fruits and berries, and no one ever got sick... well maybe occasionally from over indulging.

All from our own orchards or out in the wild on our own land.

pawpaws
peaches
apples (green, yellow and red)
raspberries
blueberries
blackberries
muscadines
plums
strawberries
figs
persimmons
satsuma oranges


My funniest and best memory was the time my cousins and I decided it would be fun to make muscadine wine. Tarp out behind the barn, a bushel of muscadines, sugar, bare feet to stomp em. Wonderful mess and we got caught by papaw. Let's just say, I don't drink wine today because we were made to drink that nasty stuff as punishment for picking his living and playing with them. Of course given time I'm sure we would have turned out the best batch of Alabama sweet table wine any group of 9-11 year olds, with no knowledge and primitive tools, could have ever dreamed of rofl.

Too funny Bham!! and you're right mbrookes I NEVER washed the fruit either!! we just picked 'em off the tree and straight into our mouths. I think the only ones that did a number on me from over eating were figs...but that's another story!

Where I grew up, there were many cow pastures around my family residence and I picked blackberries every summer. I would pick gallons which Mamaw Smith would freeze, make pies and jam. I never though of the danger. I would never let my grandchildren do that due to chiggars, snakes and other things.

Strange but at that time, I never thought of the problems.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

During the summer, I'll drive to Michigan for peaches. I've enjoyed the taste of fruits from my childhood when I was in Europe, especially Paris. The produce at the retail food stores was the absolute best I've had in years.

CSD

Naxet76. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of childhood. I ate like a king at my grandparents homes! My local grandfather had 2 Black Cherry, 2 Apple, 2 Pear and 2 Plum trees.. Tree fruit for most of the summer! Along with that, a massive raspberry patch, along with a dozen or so red current bushes and about half dozen gooseberry bushes. Then there was the rhubarb plants scattered around along with a couple strawberry patches. Then their vegetable garden was also fully stocked.. Majority of my meals came from the garden and not the store. Only thing they where missing was chickens! lol.. But they came over from Europe during WW2, and I think it was more of self reliance and stretching the penny thing.. Though I'm not sure about that.. Gramps would spend hours a day in the gardens enjoying every minute of it..

Ever pick huckleberries? They grow wild & are very small. It takes a while to pick a bucket full. But mama could make the best pies from this wild miniature blue berry. Oh, but the red bugs & ticks that I gathered along with the berries.

She also made a muscadine hull pie. She squeezed the "meat" from the muscadine & made her juice & jelly. But she saved the skins for a pie. Very tasty.

We used to pick cherries off the tree and eat them as is, I'll never forget the time I bit into one and there was half a worm sticking out of it. Guess where the other half was.

John

Red tart cherries are a natural anti inflamatory and great for treating arthritis. Eating 20 dried red tart cherries/day has kept my joints very moblie. Too many will act as a laxative. Fresh pineapple is also a natutral anti inflamatory which contains bromelain( a natural digestive enzyme). It helps arthritis and acid reflux.

CSD

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

Where I grew up, there were many cow pastures around my family residence and I picked blackberries every summer. I would pick gallons which Mamaw Smith would freeze, make pies and jam. I never though of the danger. I would never let my grandchildren do that due to chiggars, snakes and other things.

Strange but at that time, I never thought of the problems.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Kids need to learn about snakes and chiggers. I'm an old fart but both my kids can catch a rattlesnake w/ a tree limb and fry it up into a tasty dish. I don't want to lose that by being protective.

I hear ya, V960! And I have one beautiful rattlesnake hat band (complete with rattles) on my Aussie hat from a snake I killed in Texas. He was a mean sucker, too. Tried to bite me . . . well he DID bite my boot!

If I had known how, I would have cooked that sucker too.

Shoot, I hope this bit of info doesn't bring out the PETA crowd.

ALSO, I have sure picked my share of wild blackberries. Wife knows how to make WONDERFUL blackberry jam, preserves and even CORDIAL. Take the cordial and mix in a bit of Vodka. . . WOW!! Probably would even treat chigger (we called them redbugs) and snake bites.

I gotta ask- what's a pawaw?

I grew up in the 1950's-1960's suburbs of NYC. Nassau County (Long Island) was mostly potato fields before the first tract housing was built. My dad & mom escaped to this "wilderness" and planted apples & peaches in their small backyard. The peaches were grapefruit-size and sweet & juicy, every year. The apples were plentiful; when I was about 16, my friends & I decided to make apple wine (Boone's Farm was expensive at $2. or $3. a bottle at the time).
That September we picked 2 big trash cans full of apples. Climbing the trees and horsing around all day was fun; peeling & coring apples was not. I don't know if that was even necessary, but we set to work.
After maybe 2 hours, we had about six inches of the first trash can filled with peeled apples. We graciously offered the apples to my mom, who made many fine pies. We gave the rest away to friends and neighbors.

Hello All,
A wonderful topic, Naxet76.
My first memories were of our cherry trees. I was like 4 or 5 and saw these beautiful red berries.
When you are young, colours attracted the eyes and tell the mind this could be pleasurable and good.
I saw red and thought sweet. Unfortunately, we had sour cherry trees, good for pies, but man, they
did not taste good to my young palate when I picked them straight from the tree.
A few years after my learning experience with our sour cherry trees, my next door neighbor's grandson
and I discovered their tasty mulberry tree. We climb up in the tree and had a feast. We, also, discovered
birds love mulberries and that they pass through their system quickly. We were baptized a few times with
their droppings. I didn't mind, but Mom did.
We have wild blackberries, which my wife calls black raspberries. I don't know what to call them.
We love to pick them. My dog, Amber, follows us around. She has a pattern she follows to protect the homestead,
and part of it is to investigate where we walk. I watch her because watches out for us. One day she was out
and checking out one of the wild blackberry patches. She whelped and came back to me. Her nose was swollen and
had a viper bit, I think a rattlesnake, on her nose. She was sick for a few days, but thankfully was restored.
I checked out the area, but found nothing. A week later, I went back and found a dead rattler.
My father-in-law, had a stroke and is not up to par, but one of his joys is to come and pick the blackberries, which
he gives to his friends. They appreciate it and it makes him feel good and like he working, which he is.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

Rong...
A Pawpaw is also know as a Hoosier Banana. It is seasonal fruit grown in the midwest (read old farm areas like Persimmons) It has a custard like consistency and 'close to vanilla' flavor. You can purchase PawPaw's from a number of Orchard Nurseries...or look at one on Stark Brother's Inc. website

We had a cherry tree in our backyard when I was a kid. It put out a bountiful crop every year but I found them too sour to eat off the tree. Each year the family would organize a day or two to pick all the cherries for pies, cobblers, and also to freeze for winter use. The tree had a neat breach in the center where I could sit while I picked. That was the fun part. The stuff I hated was the endless washing followed by the pitting, by hand. Mom would let them sit in sugar water for a day which sweetened them up considerably. Her pies and cobblers were great with fresh home-made whipped cream.

Each summer when I was growing up in the Corryville neighborhood of Cincinnati, a farmer would come down our street on a horse-drawn cart, hollering "Strawberries, raspberries, four quarts for a dollar!" I remember those as being very fresh and good without the sugar treatment. They also made good cobblers.

quote:

Originally posted by rongmtek

I gotta ask- what's a pawaw?

Sorry, fixed my spelling lol

A papaw, is one's parents father, your grandfather :-) A Paw-Paw, or pawpaw is a fruit that known by many names and grown from Canada to Florida and as far west as Texas. Ours were in Alabama.

American Custard Apple, the West Virginia Banana, and the Indiana Banana are some names I've heard. It has a mild flavor, custardy, that is almost banana with appley undertones. Really hard to describe. Really good though!

I am looking for a photo of the PawPaw. I'll add it to this post later if I find a good one. EDIT- Here is a link to the Stark brothers Nursery catalog for the PawPaw.
http://www.starkbros.com/access?action=product&productID=3600&collection=0

Meantime we are enjoying the start of year 7 here in Southern Indiana. In the orchard we have 6 cherry trees, two 'Bing-Type', one 'Pie Cherry' and 3 of the Royal Anne Type...the yellow with a pink blush on them. Today while checking the trees I shot this photo of the FIRST Cherry Blossom to open. Obviously a multitude will follow ! Not a bad shot considering that I was on the tractor with the engine running (lots of vibration in my unsteady hands).


The Plums and Apricots have bloomed and are beginning to leaf out. Shortly we will be able to tell how many of the blossoms had contact with the bees before falling. After a week in the 80's we are due for several days in the 40's and 50's next week. Hopefully the frost will not show up!!

Apples and Pears are showing signs of life, but no blossoms yet.

quote:

Originally posted by BunglingBill


ALSO, I have sure picked my share of wild blackberries. Wife knows how to make WONDERFUL blackberry jam, preserves and even CORDIAL. Take the cordial and mix in a bit of Vodka. . . WOW!! Probably would even treat chigger (we called them redbugs) and snake bites.

<action> Dick looks at his gallon of home made cherry liquer.</action>

My grandma had a cherry tree, a fig tree, a grape vine, and 2 damson trees. I ate the fruit off all of them, and loved it. Her damson pies were delicious.

Fresh figs,watermelon,pineapple pears,wild plums,and wild blackberries!

The thing I miss the most living in Texas are good strawberries. Growing up in southwest Missouri (Springfield), we had great locally-grown strawberries, but the absolute BEST were grown in Arkansas.

We never bought strawberries from a grocery store, because even back then, the big grocery stores imported strawberries from California. As my father always said, they have no taste.

Mother would make pie-crust "shortbread", mash some strawberries and a little sugar with a potato masher, and we would drift into heaven...

Hey, folks-
Thanks for the info about pawpaws- I'll find some and try them, someplace. I'm always happy to learn about something new, especially if I can eat it.
Lately, I find some completely unique fruits at a large Korean supermarket near my business. Lots of different melons; but the most recent find looked like uncured olives, and were actually baby kiwis. About the size of a large grape; every one was perfectly ripe, juicy, fuzzless and really flavorful. We happened to have a party that night and everybody was confused by them, but loved them.
I checked the carton- grown here in the USA!
I'm working up to trying a durian, which they also have.
Ron

Had to mention this:
I've heard this nursery song my whole life but I just got it,
"....way down yonder in the pawpaw patch..."

quote:

Originally posted by iqdiva

Fresh figs,watermelon,pineapple pears,wild plums,and wild blackberries!

Figs are one of my favorite fruits. I have two trees in my back yard that survived years of horses and mules "pruning" them. Now the birds try beating me to them.

Oh Dickestep!I made 35 quarts of fig preserves last summer...

quote:

Originally posted by rongmtek


I'm working up to trying a durian, which they also have.
Ron

Good luck with that Ron. I couldn't get past my gag reflex the smell induced to even try.

Thanks- I've been warned by others who tried, too.
I've eaten some odd things over the years, especially when I wandered the world in my twenties. Sheep's eyes at a kashmiri wedding; yak meat & butter; lots of stuff I have no idea what it was.

Figs: I lived in Oakland, CA in the mid-70's and a had a fig tree in the yard that fruited twice a year. Heaven! But all my "friends" knew about it, too; I used to come home & find them in the tree with bags full of fruit.

Hey- I just turned into a chesseburger!

Congratulations on your promotion. Keep the good posts coming !