those edible nightshade thingies...

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Mar 9, 2013 7:11:11 GMT -5 blueadzuki said:

Incidentally, this months issue of Heirloom Gardening had a brief articule (or actulally sub article) about finding and unusually sweet tasting orange fruited S. nigrum growing wild somewhere in Rome, and the authors did mention they had saved seeds.

...I found a wild red berried nightshade here in the wild parts near my neighborhood once. I collected a few fruits, and they were interesting because they smelled like tomatoes. They had purple flowers though, and i was too scared to try tasting any. I can always go looking for them again. I know where to look. But they did intrigue me since they did smell similar to tomatoes. The berries themselves were no bigger than the nail on my pinky finger, and i believe they were oval shaped. I think i may have posted a picture of them (at least the purple flower) somewhere on this forum, but i'm too lazy to go looking for it. The picture would probably be in the other wonderberry/sunberry thread.

EDIT:

alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=banter&thread=5366&post=59434

2. Some sort of wild solanum. It has small purple flowers, and small red oval shaped berries. Interestingly enough they smelled almost like regular tomatoes. I was afraid they might be poisonous, so i didn't eat any, but i did taste one to the tip of my tongue. I think it had a sort of sweet taste to it. It might have potential as a food crop. does anyone have a name for this plant?

i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af224/keen101/Garden%202011/DSCF0627.jpg

No that's bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcama en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_dulcamara Bellandona is in fact an upright plant, with cup shaped flowers and black berries

[hortusbrambonii]

Solanum dulcamara, bittersweet nightshade. Beautiful plant with small purple flowers and little red berries that look like mini-tomatoes. It's native over here, I even have saved some seeds when I stumbled upon it because I like the plant.
I wouldn't eat it though; even if the plant's named after its taste (dulcamara and 'bitterzoet' in Dutch mean bittersweet must not be that poisonous...)

[blueadzuki]

though since and alternate name is "poision berry" I wouldn't bank on that.
Personally I've always though of the berries as looking more like tiny tamarillos than tiny tomatoes (after all reltively few tomatoes have that tapering ovoid shape. Even plums tend to be a bit wider around the shoulders)
There's another type of nightshade that somtimes shows up around here, though it's uncommon. It short quite upright, smooth (no prickles, so it isn't horsenettle), simple leaved and bears largish berries (about groundcherry size) singly, which I think ripen to red (not sure I've ever seen a plant with ripe berries).

[ottawagardener]

'tiny tamarilos' good description on the bittersweet nightshade.

[oxbowfarm]

This year's patch of schwartzbeeren are coming along really nicely. Should have the first fruits in a few weeks as they are flowering actively now.

Potato flea beetles have been chewing the heck out of them but it doesn't seem to bother them at all.

[remy]

I grow S. melanocerasum every year. They are exceedingly sweet, saccharine. Children love them as do my dogs. They are very fragile when ripe so they must be eaten right then or used for a recipe.
I've also grown Jaltomate. They are easy to harvest like blueberries. The flavor is not to my liking, but canned in a recipe, they might be good.

[coppice]

High bush cranberry has also been sold as edible...

Not

[remy]

Aug 28, 2013 12:15:34 GMT -5 coppice said:

High bush cranberry has also been sold as edible...

Not

I actually made very good cranberry jelly from mine. The following is a copy of a post I made on IDig:
I sort of went with the excerpt from this book.
books.google.com/books?id=Lre_ox0daocC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=viburnum+cranberry+sauce&source=bl&ots=KO8Qr5kQ84&sig=bnGLnvhHSwfW3cOKKD4YeSDXil4&hl=en&ei=oByPTv_HC-Xs0gHFhOgd&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=viburnum%20cranberry%20sauce&f=false

I did not have an orange. I used my Key Limes to make rind. I boiled it for 5 minutes like it said, and I then put in in my chinois, and it worked well. Since all the recipes said you need more sugar than regular cranberry sauce I added a lot of sugar, but also some Stevia after I though I had enough sugar to gel to get sweeter without all the extra calories. I added Cardamom since I normally add that to cranberry sauce and a touch of salt. I tasted it, and it did have bitter after taste. So I figure my key lime peels may not have been enough so I squeezed in the key lime juice. and let that boil. That helped A LOT. I did not add pectin since it seemed to be gelling just fine. If I waited longer and picked the berries later maybe it would need the pectin.

[oxbowfarm]

The Schwartzbeeren are pretty loaded right now. Time to make some maldasha.

[hortusbrambonii]

I tried 3 different types this year. (see hortusbrambonii.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/so-what-about-those-edible-nightshades-a-tasting-test/)

Something I received as 'American garden huckleberry' (S. melanocerasum) seems to make big shiny berries that have the taste of jaltomatos, only stronger, with not even a hint of sweetness, and a weird metalic quality to it. I'll try them processed with a lot of sugar later when all of them are ripe, but I can't say I'm a fan.

Wonderberries or S. burbankii, looked a lot like our native S. nigrum or like the picture of schartzbeeren here, are much better in taste, although smaller. I wonder if they were labelled properly though, this seems to be nothing but an edible S. nigrum...
And 'golden pearls' (S. villosum) seemed very similar, only do the plants look softer, and the berries are yellow. They are not that special, but okay.

[12540dumont]

Tim, I harvested a half of a hotel pan yesterday from the Schwartzenbeeren. There are zilch recipes for dealing with this on the net.

Please, post a recipe. Pretty please, with berries on top.

[richardw]

I see there's no mention of S.sisymbriifolium in this thread,has anyone grown this type yet.

[iva]

That's Litchi Tomato, I grow it every year and love it. It is a tall prickly plant with lots of fruits that taste almost like cherries when ripe (not those really sweet cherries but the flavor is there)...
Easy to grow, disease free and very productive although difficult to pick (use gloves and scissors).

[richardw]

Ok thanks iva,been given some seed so i'll need to find a place for it,are they an annual??

[iva]

Put it somewhere where you won't have to walk by it every day as it is very prickly, plus it grows quite large by the end of the season. I'd say it gets past 5 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide.
It needs a sunny location, not much water nor feed, but needs company as it sets fruit better if there are more plants planted.
It can get infested by potato beatles so it can be used as a trap crop in potato fields. Not a case in my garden though. No pest issues here.
In my climate they are annuals and get killed after a few hard frosts, but they survive light frosts just fine and keep producing for a long period of time. I'm not sure if they are perennial in warmer climates.

You grow them the same way you grow tomatoes. It is wise to soak seeds prior to sowing as they are very hard. Seedlings are very small and gentle and are thorny from the first true leaf forward.
If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to help