The image, above, shows the full Cornelian Cherry shrub(Cornus mas) in flower, top left and in leaf, top right.
Also shown are close-ups of the shrub's fruit (bottom left) and
the dried currant-like fruit, bottom right..
| Common Name: Cornelian Cherry |
| Scientific Name: Cornus mas |
| Other Names: European cornel and Cornelian Cherry Dogwood |
| Family: Cornaceae |
| Range: Europe. Naturalized in Britain |
Physical Characteristics
Cornus mas is a hardy deciduous shrub, growing to 5m (16 ft) by 5m (16 ft) in size. It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. The plant flowers from February to March and the fruit ripen in September. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by bees. This shrub is noted as a wildlife attractant.
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| Edible Parts: Fruit, Seeds |
 Edibility Rating: 4 
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 Known Hazards: None Known.
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Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Cornelian Cherry along with all the Cornelian Cherry containing recipes presented on this site, with 0 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 Cornelian Cherry as a major wild food ingredient.
The Cornelian Cherry, Cornus mas (also known as the European cornel and Cornelian Cherry Dogwood) is a species of flowering shrub in the Cornaceae (dogwood) family that's native to southern Europe, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran and southwest Asia. The tree appears to have been introduced to Britain in the early 1500s and one is known to have been planted in Hampton Court Palace by 1551.
The plant is a medium to large deciduous shrub growing to between 5m and 12m tall. It has dark brown branches and greenish twigs. The leaves are opposite, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an ovate to oblong shape and an entire margin. The flowers are small (5–10 mm diameter), with four yellow petals, produced in clusters of 10–25 together in the late winter (February to March), well before the leaves appear. The fruit is an oblong red drupe 2cm long and 1.5cm in diameter, containing a single seed.
The fully ripe berries are a dark ruby red and bear a resemblance to coffee berries (to which they are related). They ripen in mid to late summer. The ripe fruit is edible but the unripe fruit can be very astringent. In Iran the fruit ripens on the tree, but elsewhere it only fully ripens after it falls from the tree. The fully ripe fruit has plum-like notes that are described as a mixture of cranberry and sour cherry and have a very pleasant plum-like texture.
The fruit is low in pectin, so if making preserves it's best to mix with other fruit containing high pectin levels (eg crab apples) or use sugar containing pectin if preparing cornelian cherry jam or cornelian cherry and blackberry jam. The seeds can be roasted and ground to a powder which is used as a coffee substitute. The seeds can also be pressed to extract an edible oil.
In Britain, during the 1770s, the fruit was commonly brined (like barberries) and stored for winter use. It also makes an excellent jam or jelly. When pitted and boiled with sugar and orange it makes an excellent substitute for cranberry sauce. In the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the fruit is used for distilling vodka, while in Albania it is distilled into raki. In Turkey and Iran it is eaten with salt as a snack in summer, and traditionally consumed as a cold drink called kızılcık şerbeti. Cultivars selected for fruit production in Ukraine have fruit up to 4cm long (typically the fruit is up to 1.5cm long). The fruit can also be pitted and dried. The seeds can be pressed to extract a small amount of edible oil. They can also be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute.
Today, the shrub is grown in many gardens as a winter flowering plant, in a similar way to forsythia. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees. It is noted for attracting wildlife.
Note that unripe Cornelian Cherry berries are very astringent in flavour, but fully ripe fruit are sweet and very tasty with a sour aftertaste. When ripe, the fruit are a ruby red in colour. In Britain, however, they do not ripen fully until they have fallen from the tree. Collect them when they have fallen, place on newspaper in a box and set on a sunny windowsill to ripen.
The plant grows readily from seed. The image given here shows a Cornelian cherry bush in flower (top left), a bush in leaf (top right), the ripe fruit on the tree (bottom left) and the dried fruit of Cornelian cherry (bottom right).
[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
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 Cornelian Cherry as a major wild food ingredient.
The Cornelian Cherry, Cornus mas (also known as the European cornel and Cornelian Cherry Dogwood) is a species of flowering shrub in the Cornaceae (dogwood) family that's native to southern Europe, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran and southwest Asia. The tree appears to have been introduced to Britain in the early 1500s and one is known to have been planted in Hampton Court Palace by 1551.
The plant is a medium to large deciduous shrub growing to between 5m and 12m tall. It has dark brown branches and greenish twigs. The leaves are opposite, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an ovate to oblong shape and an entire margin. The flowers are small (5–10 mm diameter), with four yellow petals, produced in clusters of 10–25 together in the late winter (February to March), well before the leaves appear. The fruit is an oblong red drupe 2cm long and 1.5cm in diameter, containing a single seed.
The fully ripe berries are a dark ruby red and bear a resemblance to coffee berries (to which they are related). They ripen in mid to late summer. The ripe fruit is edible but the unripe fruit can be very astringent. In Iran the fruit ripens on the tree, but elsewhere it only fully ripens after it falls from the tree. The fully ripe fruit has plum-like notes that are described as a mixture of cranberry and sour cherry and have a very pleasant plum-like texture.
The fruit is low in pectin, so if making preserves it's best to mix with other fruit containing high pectin levels (eg crab apples) or use sugar containing pectin if preparing cornelian cherry jam or cornelian cherry and blackberry jam. The seeds can be roasted and ground to a powder which is used as a coffee substitute. The seeds can also be pressed to extract an edible oil.
In Britain, during the 1770s, the fruit was commonly brined (like barberries) and stored for winter use. It also makes an excellent jam or jelly. When pitted and boiled with sugar and orange it makes an excellent substitute for cranberry sauce. In the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the fruit is used for distilling vodka, while in Albania it is distilled into raki. In Turkey and Iran it is eaten with salt as a snack in summer, and traditionally consumed as a cold drink called kızılcık şerbeti. Cultivars selected for fruit production in Ukraine have fruit up to 4cm long (typically the fruit is up to 1.5cm long). The fruit can also be pitted and dried. The seeds can be pressed to extract a small amount of edible oil. They can also be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute.
Today, the shrub is grown in many gardens as a winter flowering plant, in a similar way to forsythia. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees. It is noted for attracting wildlife.
Note that unripe Cornelian Cherry berries are very astringent in flavour, but fully ripe fruit are sweet and very tasty with a sour aftertaste. When ripe, the fruit are a ruby red in colour. In Britain, however, they do not ripen fully until they have fallen from the tree. Collect them when they have fallen, place on newspaper in a box and set on a sunny windowsill to ripen.
The plant grows readily from seed. The image given here shows a Cornelian cherry bush in flower (top left), a bush in leaf (top right), the ripe fruit on the tree (bottom left) and the dried fruit of Cornelian cherry (bottom right).
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
The alphabetical list of all Cornelian Cherry recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 0 recipes in total:
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Page 1 of 1