Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Bird Cherry along with all the Bird Cherry containing recipes presented on this site, with 6 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Bird Cherry as a major wild food ingredient.

The Bird Cherry, Prunus padus, (also known as Cerasus padus Delarbre, Prunus racemosa Lam. and Hagberry) is a species of cherry, native to northern Europe and northern Asia, growing even north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It is a member of the Rosaceae (rose) family of flowering plants and typically grows as a deciduous small tree or large shrub some 8–16m tall. It is hardy to zone 3. It is in flower in May, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies, bees. It is noted for attracting wildlife. The flowers are borne in racemes, which are hermaphroditic and pollinated by bees and flies. The English name refers to the berries, which are astringent and bitter-sweet, seldom used in Western Europe (but commonly eaten in Russia and elsewhere), readily eaten by birds, which do not taste astringency as unpleasant.

The fruit usually has a slightly bitter taste and is used mainly for making jam and preserves (hydrogen cyanide is destroyed by cooking). The fruit is about the size of a pea and contains one large seed. The young leaves are boiled as a vegetable in Korea and like most of the rose family the flowers are edible. It should be noted, however, that the seed and leaves of bird cherries contain hydrogen cyanide, a poison that gives almonds their characteristic flavour. This toxin is readily detected by its bitter taste. Usually present in too small a quantity to do any harm, any very bitter seed or fruit should not be eaten. However, heat treatment will drive off the cyanide and one common way of cooking bird cherries is to pound the whole fruit to a pulp (this breaks open the seeds) before mixing with a little honey to sweeten, forming patties and baking these on a griddle. In Russia bird cherries are commonly made into a flour that's used to flavour cakes.

The flower are edible and can be used to garnish desserts and salads or can be added to jelly (jello) before setting. The young leaves are edible when cooked and are traditionally boiled as a vegetable in Korea. The seeds can be eaten raw or cooked (do not eat if they are too bitter). The seeds can also be dried, toasted and ground into flour. A tea can also be made from a decoction of the bark.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants