Re: [nafex] Garden huckleberries

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

One of the annoyances of "garden huckleberries" is that the common name is
applied to several species.  S. melanocerasum IS horrid.  But S. burbankii,
which looks similar, is sweet and edible right from the bush.  Like many
gardeners, I went through the usual testing of different "Garden
Huckleberries" years ago and all were rank, unpleasant things until I got
some of the true S. burbankii.  The flaws of the fruit are that the berries
are soft and juicy, making them a mess to pick, the birds will spread them
thoroughly, so that I have no need to plant them any more - they come up
everywhere, and the plants look a lot like S. nigrum, which is supposed to
be poisonous. Dr. Charles Heiser in Indiana is a Solanaceae expert who wrote
a book that covers the Garden Huckleberry story extremely well.  Look for it
and save yourself years of growing foul, unpleasant types like S.
melanocerasum.
-Lon Rombough 
----------
>From: Lucky Pittman <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>
>To: nafex@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [nafex] Garden huckleberries
>Date: Mon, Mar 25, 2002, 10:03 AM
>

>At 08:13 AM 03/23/2002 -0600, Donna wrote:
>
>>     I'm afraid that writers for Pomona  may not have much to say about
>>their fruit crops in 2002.  Maybe it will be a year for writing about garden
>>huckleberries (yechh!!!) and ground cherries.  I've tried them in cobblers
>>with apples, and the ground cherries are pretty decent.
>
>Yechh! is right.
>
>I grew those infamous 'garden huckleberries' (Solanum melanocerasum, if I 
>remember the scientific name correctly) one year in MO.  Beautiful plants, 
>about 3-4 ft tall, big clusters of white blossoms & big clusters of juicy 
>blue-black berries, bigger than any of the selected blueberry varieties.
>BUT!!!  Even after boiling, leaching, and treatment with baking soda to 
>'neutralize' toxins, and addition of lots & lots of sugar, grape juice, and 
>a little lemon juice, pies & jams left me with a very discomforting 
>metallic aftertaste, suggesting that all the toxic alkaloids had not been 
>removed or neutralized.
>
>
>
>Lucky Pittman
>USDA Zone 6
>Hopkinsville, KY
>
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