What's your favorite wild fruit to harvest and eat?

M Ljin wrote:I forgot to mention, mayapples are delicious!

I grew up seeing mayapples in the woods.  Didn't even know they actually produce an "apple."

Word of warning...  This is from Wikipedia, so take it as you will:

"All the parts of the plant are poisonous, including the unripe green fruit and perhaps the ripe fruit eaten in excess.[14][15][16]."

And further:

"Mayapple has been used by Indigenous Americans as an emetic, cathartic,[19] and antihelmintic agent.[19]"

None of those actions make me think "food."  They make me think "medicine," which has to be approached very differently, taken in different quantities than food, and for different reasons.

Wild blueberries from New England
Opuntia Cactus fruit / ‘tuna’ on West coast, with Golden Currants a close second.

Steve Thorn wrote:It can't get much better than harvesting free and no effort fruit.

We have lots of wild blackberries around here, and during the summer they produce loads of tasty and flavorful berries. These are probably my favorite. They can be eaten fresh or made into wonderful treats!

I've also found a wild peach tree that was really good and a mulberry tree that I haven't tasted yet, but hope to very soon this summer.

We don't have that much wild fruit growing around here that I've seen, and it seems like few people around here even grow fruit anymore, but hopefully that will soon change!

What types of native or wild fruit do you have growing near you and what is your favorite?

  Wild blackberries for sure easy to find and  taste fire.

Of the wild fruits growing in my region my favourites are 'Blauwe bosbessen' (Vaccinium myrtillus). Related to Blueberries and Huckleberries. These are low bushes growing in forests on sandy soil.

Wild blackberries are lovely, but I think it depends a lot on the fertility and moisture of the soil. In bad soil they are small, bitter, and seedy, whereas good soil and enough water makes them delicious.

As for mayapple—lots of plants are medicine. Cherry is cough medicine, and will poison you if you eat too much fresh bark or pits (cyanide). Most of the pawpaw plant is toxic as well. Every part of the yew except the flesh of the fruit is highly toxic. This is quite common—the fruit is edible but nothing else—because plants want the fruit to be eaten, but not the seed, bark, leaves, or roots.

Any kine, we get blackberries, several kinds of raspberries, alpine strawberries, lilikoi, purple passion fruit, banana passion fruit, and sea grapes. What I am able to gather depends on if I’m up mountain or by the coast. I’m a big fan of foraging for snacks!