Despite the various names, I'll be referring to these berries as juneberries, mostly because that is the name that I first learned them as, and that is usually when I eat them - in June. They are amazingly common in some cities and are found in a lot of the wild in the places I frequent. I've eaten most of them in Bloomington, IN due to the sheer number planted for landscaping. There are definitely over 200 bushes in town, and every year I notice a new bush I hadn't seen the year before. The university just planted a ton more after expanding the outdoor sports area. Most of what is planted is a bush type, which I am happy for as they are easy to reach and you can access the fruit from all sides. There are some 30-40 foot tall juneberry trees by a parking garage, that you have to utilize the various floors of the parking garage to harvest from.
The bushes are extensively planted because they require little care, with the ability to prosper despite plants under and around them, and they also have pretty flowers. Below are some pictures of the leaves, fruit, and bark.
The berries look a little like blueberries, but reminiscent of an apple on bottom from the remnants of the flower. Being in the same plant family, it is also not surprising to find hints of apple in the taste. It's like mixing blueberry, apple, and some nuttiness. Usually when biting into a juneberry, you end up biting into the seeds as well, making it taste like pie in your mouth. In my first few years in Bloomington, Eli and I were of the few people harvesting anything more than a nibble. People would walk by attempting to convince us that they were poisonous. Eli, as young as two or three years old, would explain that they were in the Rose family which contains no poisonous plants (though I'm aware the seeds contain mild cyanide, it gets excreted by your lungs during respiration). More people have been nibbling every year and some have started to harvest for storage. With the amount that are in town I am glad that others are eating them too. If Canadian growers are successful in marketing them as a superfood, then there might even end up being some competition for them.
This year we ended up with over 20 pounds brought home to preserve. There were countless pounds more that ended up in our bellies. We dried a lot of them. I am planning on making condiments with them along with some mulberries and cherries, but more on that later.
The nutritional composition of juneberries is similar to that of blueberries (even the spellcheck tries to make me change juneberries to blueberries). They are high in riboflavon, bioton, manganese, and iron. But aside from that, they are super delicious, prolific, and freely available.
