The young leaves are cooked and eaten by mountain people in Japan. Trees are wonderful things to have in a yard! By doing so, they freed up space in our yard for other large perennial fruit & nut-producing trees. This species is native to Asia, there are a number of varieties with slightly different flower and fruit characteristics. As I said the skin can be tough and sometimes the fruit is bitter. The skin is rough and gritty/mealy, therefore shouldn’t be eaten; Most Kousa dogwood fruit has fairly large seeds inside relative to the size of the fruit (the seeds are about the size of a pomegranate seed). Some trees produce yellow-fleshed fruit, others produce orange-red fleshed fruit. Dogwood trees are trees in the Genus: Cornus. I wonder which species is being referenced there. They produce beautiful white or pink bracts in late spring and have attractive foliage all summer long. Yes, you can grow Kousa dogwoods from seed, but add 1-2 years to fruit production using this method relative to buying saplings. Ideally, find a variety bred specifically for its fruit quality. We’ve heard it said the Kousa dogwood makes excellent baked goods: pies, puddings, bread, etc. Even though the leaves and bark are very similar, distinguishing this tree from flowering dogwood is easy. Historically, it was a commonly used herb in the East as a mild but invigorating tonic. squeeze out the pulp + seeds into a measuring cup leaving the skin and grit behind; cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes to loosen the pulp from the seeds; try to strain through cheesecloth to remove seeds – pulp was too dense to come through cheesecloth, but the Kousa flavored water was quite good. In the fall, the leaves turn red and purple before dropping to reveal smooth and beautiful grey-brown bark that looks much more similar to a crepe myrtle tree’s bark than to our native dogwood. Cornelian cherry dogwood(Cornus mas) is another dogwood tree that is commonly sold as a landscape tree. The risk of GI problems is pretty high, particularly when they are given in high amounts. We’d initially considered growing Kousa dogwoods in our food forest, but upon finding a nearby spot full of mature Kousas, we decided against it. Then, squeeze the inner goodness into your mouth before spitting out the seeds. Kousa doogwoods grom in USDA Agricultural Zones 5-8. To consume, the stem is removed, and the flesh is simply sucked from the skin. ), Recipe: gluten-free persimmon oat crumble. Tyrant Farms is reader-supported. The botanical moniker of the dogwood most renowned for its fruits is Cornus mas, better known by the common name of 'Cornelian Cherry'. If you do try it, please let us know how it turns out. Asian Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa) are a beautiful tree that also produce a tasty edible fruit. Kousa dogwoods can live to be over 100 years. as mentioned above the fruit is not edible. The primary edible part ofthe Kousa Dogwood isits red berrieswhich areusually produced in abundance in late summer. A great 4-season plant for naturalizing, in mass, and in shrub borders, especially in moist sites. The taste is very good and unique for a temperate climate fruit. Dogwood species seem to be pretty different in terms of edibility and fruit characteristics. You can eat the fruit of Cornus kousa - Korean Dogwood - Chinese Dogwood - Japanese Dogwood Cornus kousa This species from China and Japan is much like our native dogwood, but the floral bracts are pointed and produce several weeks later in the season. As it turns out, nobody who frequents our Kousa dogwood spot seems to know that they’re an edible fruit — or if they do, they don’t care. Pick a fruit from a pear tree, and you’ve picked a pear. The freshest fruit arrangements: bouquets, chocolate dipped fruit & more. Pagoda dogwood is a good choice for a naturalized landscape as it will tolerate shade. Dimensions: Height: 20 ft. 0 in. Pagoda dogwood has greenish to reddish or purple to purple-brown stems. The fruit is borne on bright red stalks. They do not like wet or waterlogged soil. The bark and the fruits. When doing apples, you can just wash and quarter them and when you put them through the mill, the seeds and skins stay behind. If you (or anyone else) tries Kousas in a food mill, I’d definitely recommend squeezing the pulp out and removing the skins first. The fruits areabout the size ofa strawberry but round. There are quite a lot of Kousa dogwood cultivars out there with subtle differences between them. ½ tsp cinnamon. - Foraging Tours, Classes and Groups Near You, - Wild Edible Tea Index, and Preparation Methods, Dig This: We Can Protect Wild American Ginseng – By George Lindemann, Chamomile: Just a tinge brightens up your day. This species is cultivated very frequently and different varieties have been developed. Help. Edible Shrubs provides detailed information, attractively presented, on over 70 shrub species. Kousa dogwoods are about as low-maintenance as trees come, so even if you don’t think you have a green thumb, you can grow them in your garden or edible landscape. Food explorer, seed & soil geek, duck evangelist, writer, health nut, and entrepreneur. Separating small seeds is no problem but when doing something like plums or persimmons, I find that the bigger seeds are a little more work. Aaron is the former farm manager at Oak Hill Cafe & Farm, a no-till, permaculture, farm-to-table restaurant & farm located right down the street from his alma mater, Furman University, in Greenville, SC. The fruits of this species are edible. We also write for Edible Upcountry Magazine, so be sure to check out our articles over there as well! Leaves have good fall color. What can I do with my Kousa Dogwood fruit? If you don’t know your Ag Zone, you can find it here. They are red berries formed into an approx, 1″ diameter fruit, this is technically an aggregate fruit but looks like a single large berry. I was bouncing around the genealogy sites last night and found out that my last name, Crognale, in Italian, means Cornelian cherry tree. Required fields are marked *, Dogwood Tree – Beautiful Flowers, Unique Fruits. How do you know when Kousa dogwood fruit is ripe? Both pink and white flowered dogwood are very common. The first Kousa dogwood fruit of the late summer season in Greenville, South Carolina. The trees growing in shadier spots produce less fruit, but the fruit is larger. try to strain through metal strainer, but unable to get mulch pulp from the process. Flowering Dogwood(Cornus florida) has very showy flowers in early spring. Kousa dogwoods grow best in well-draining but moist acidic soil. And are ALL dogwood blossoms appropriate for this? Flowering dogwoods prefer part shade and are perfectly adjusted to the acidic soil of the northeast. In this article, we’ll share everything we know about Kousa dogwoods so you can find them, grow them, and enjoy this wonderful fall fruit as well! Kousa Dogwood berries are primarily eaten fresh, out-of-hand. There are many different types of dogwoods, some of which bear fruit that's "edible" (meaning you won't get sick if you eat it) and some whose edible fruits are so tasty they're a sought-after delicacy. Privacy Policy. Edible parts of Flowering Dogwood: Fruit - cooked. That leads me to believe that there is no reason why the blossoms would be any different. - 25 ft. 0 in. Chris VR | Oct 7, 2014 02:40 PM 1. The dogwood tree fruit is edible and beloved by birds but are often described as toxic or poisonous to humans, notes Fine Gardening. Kousa Dogwood Fruit Recipe An Unusual Edible is an update to an article I wrote three weeks ago on Kousa Dogwood trees - Recipe included here. S-M Heart-shaped leaves; reddish-purple buds Rough Leaf Dogwood Cornus drummondii M Attracts butterflies Royal Paulownia, Empress Tree Royal Paulownia, Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) M-L Well, dang. I have a food mill but no Kousa fruit. how about using a food mill to separate seeds and pulp? Your email address will not be published. I wonder whether the thick Kousa skin would behave the same way or would you have to remove the pulp and seeds before processing further. Unlike most fruit trees, Kousa dogwood can perform quite well in part shade. The Recipe – Kousa Dogwood Fruit Recipe. With the arrival of late summer (it’s the end of August as of the writing of this article), The Tyrant and I decided to go check out some of our nearby urban foraging spots. Width: 15 ft. 0 in. The Tyrant picking Kousa dogwood fruit on one of the full-sun trees. Older bark is gray and has slight ridges or furrows. This tree is native to Eurasia but grows very well in the eastern U.S. One of the most fascinating features of this plant is it’s early flowering period. When they’re young, they grow more upright and vase shaped before spreading and rounding out into their final mature form. Culinary and food usage kousa has edible berries. After 3-5 years, they shouldn’t require additional irrigation if you regularly get rain. If you live in hot dry area or are experiencing a drought, you’ll want to irrigate your young Kousa dogwoods – about 1″ of water per week until they’re established. You can buy flowering dogwood saplings HERE. fine mesh strainer. 4 – 8oz canning jars. Small mammals and birds eat the fruit of pagoda dogwood. The fruit is edible, as used in Eastern Europe, UK, and British Columbia, Canada, but the unripe fruit is astringent. Instead, we drove a couple miles to an undisclosed location (hey, we can’t give up our best spots!) I happen love sour fruits so they are one of my favorites. Leaving me with 12 cups of pureed pulp. We don’t have a food mill, so are unable to give it a try. They actually prefer a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade. How to eat a Kousa dogwood fruit from left to right. About 25 min of washing, de-stemming, and frosting fruit yielded me about 4 cups of yummy pulp! This Genus consists of 30-60 mostly woody plants some of which grow into small trees. Dogwood berries are in toxicity class III category, meaning, they are slightly toxic for dogs and cats. Yes, kousa dogwoods are hermaphroditic, with both male and female parts on the bracts. All Rights Reserved. Kousa Dogwood can be identified by 2 primary factors. A look inside Kousa dogwood fruit. these are simple leaves with an ovate shape and visible leave veins. 16 hours ago . 1 packet of powdered pectin for 2 quarts. The fruit begins ripening from green to orange/red in late August and finishes up by mid-September. In large quantities, they can induce vomiting and diarrhea, and their larger seeds may cause intestinal blockage in small dogs. Flowering Dogwood can be identified by their fruit clusters. This handout is all about the … Continue reading Trees – Best Ones for North Texas – Selection, Planting, and Maintenance → The Dogwood tree is an extremely common ornamental plant, dogwood trees offer beautiful flowers and unique fruits. In our experience, there is variability in taste between trees and varietals – some fruit we’ve had is deep orange in color with richer flavor, and others are yellow-fleshed and lighter in flavor. If you have a trick for effectively and easily separating Kousa dogwood fruit pulp from the skin and seeds, please let us know! There is one large seed in the middle of each berry but you still get a significant amount from each fruit . No, this did not require us to go deep down a forested trail or into the nearby mountains. large perennial fruit & nut-producing trees, Raising mixed species poultry together – tips and advice, Recipe: Purple kale pesto with Meyer lemons, How to store Japanese persimmons (with recipes! Although the taste doesn't rival that of its lookalike, the berries are edible. Pecan Carya illinoesis L Produces edible pecan nuts Pomegranate Punica granatum M Edible: Fruit, leaves, seeds Redbud Cercis sp. That might very well work! I read in _How to Live on Nothing_, by Joan Ranson Shortney, regarding a recipe for Dandelion Wine (p. 34), “You can follow this same recipe with other flowers, particularly dogwood blossoms, which are said to make one of the best wines.” Has anyone ever tried making dogwood blossom wine? They have been selected to provide a mix of different plant sizes and growing conditions. Although not truly a “wild” edible because kousa dogwood does not naturalize frequently in most areas. 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No, it’s not an elegant process. The fruits are about the size of a strawberry but round. To herbalists, however, it is distinguished for its bright and edible dogwood fruit, commonly referred to as Kousa berries, cornus fruit and asiatic cornelian cherry. The taste isvery good and unique for a temperate climate fruit. Since the berries and leaves on this tree are not distinctive enough compared to other plants in the landscape it’s recommended that if you believe you are looking at a cornelian cherry dogwood then you should compare that plant directly to an identification guide. Click here to learn more about our story, and please subscribe to get our freshest content delivered to your inbox! There’s a reason for that: it’s exceedingly difficult to separate the fruit’s pulp from the gritty/mealy skin or the seeds. I made kousa bread, kousa muffins, & then I froze 2 3 cup containers. Makes great sense to me, and it’s definitely two-thumbs up over “globose syncarp.” So the next time you walk near your kousa, pause, select a ripe dogwood… Edibility: Fruits are edible. As we state in our Beginner’s guide to foraging, rule #1 of foraging or eating any new food you’re unfamiliar with is: Never eat anything you’re not 100% certain you’ve correctly ID’d AND you’re not 100% certain is edible. This tree has a completely different flower and fruit schedule then the flowering dogwood. Some reports say they are poisonous. © 2012-2021 Tyrant Farms. Kousa dogwood trees take 5-7 years before they produce flowers and fruit. In our area, Kousa dogwoods produce bracts (modified leaves that look like flowers) in May. Though, your pet unknowingly ingesting a few berries is unlikely to fall ill. The kousa dogwood berries are unique in size and shape. As kousa dogwood gets older the lower bark peels and creates a unique pattern similar to sycamore tree bark. Flowering Dogwood(Cornus florida) is one of the two most common ornamental species of dogwood tree, the other is Kousa Dogwood. Many of our readers find that subscribing to Eat The Planet is the best way to make sure they don't miss any of our valuable information about wild edibles. I have not tried said, so be wary. Dogwoods all have berries but not all are edible. where landscapers long ago decided to plant Kousa dogwoods. Call your local plant nurseries to see what they have available or order your Kousa dogwood saplings online. Most provide delicious and nutritious fruit, but many also have edible leaves, seeds, flowers, stems or roots, or they yield edible … KIGI. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This species is native to the eastern United States, It grows well in woodlands as well as landscapes. The berries are very astringent and bitter. 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Mature into the fall, which could ruin the dogwood fruit edible product if it through. Is choosing berries at the right stage it ’ s not an elegant process,... Another very popular Kousa dogwood berries are primarily eaten fresh dogwood fruit edible out-of-hand Ginseng - by George.... Always said it tastes like a cross between a mango and pumpkin goods... Maybe a friend has one ripen in mid- to late summer mountain people in Japan it successfully to the! Can buy a sapling here if you don ’ t give up our best!.