High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum)

I like to explore the native plants growing in my area.  The high bush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) is a shrub native to much of Canada.  I talked to a lot of people last year that would like to know how to pick it and use it.  Its popularity is growing again with an increased interest in native fruits and picking from the wild in general.  I have dried them and also juice them fresh and frozen the juice for winter use.  Many people use them to make jelly and jam.

I snapped the photo below last summer of high bush cranberry in the process of ripening.  Blue skies and summer days!

The photo below shows part of an afternoon pick when my daughter and I were out on the bicycles - a basket of high bush cranberry on the left, staghorn sumac on the right of the bars.  Where I live wild fruit is very abundant and you can pick a lot very quickly.

I shot the photo below of High bush cranberry in bloom and full splendor early June at Chapman's Landing, Nipissing.

The Native people used many parts of high bush cranberry for both food and medicine and we can imagine that they shared this wisdom with the white settlers.

NUTRITION:
Settlers used the berries mainly for jelly and juice, and these continue to be the main uses of the fruit today. The berries can also be used in pies, sauces, liqueurs, and wine. Each berry has a large, heart shaped seed in the centre, making it more suited for use as a processed fruit rather than fresh (1). I have dried the berries in my dehydrator with good success.  I add them to hot teas or just snack on them dried.  The berries are high in vitamin C and were eaten fresh or made into pemmican. The bright red fruit was also used for ink and a dye for clothing.

MEDICINAL QUALITIES:
"Medicinally, preparations of the fruit have been used as an astringent to treat swollen glands. The bark and leaves, which contain a bitter tasting chemical called viburnine, were boiled into teas and used as sedatives and pain relievers." (1)

"The plants are tolerant of a wide variety of soil types, but do best where the soil is consistently moist and well-drained; they may grow best in soil that is slightly acidic (pH 6.0-6.5). Because the fibrous roots of this shrub lie near the soil surface, cultivation for weeds should be shallow, and the use of mulch will be beneficial. Low to medium-high soil fertility levels are acceptable. A yearly application of compost or well-rotted manure will maintain growth and fruit yields. Heavy applications of nitrogen fertilizers will encourage soft sucker growth and fewer flowers. The plants tolerate shade, but flowering, fruiting and foliage colour will be more striking on those plants exposed to full sunshine."(2).

Small shrubs in front of the Nipissing Museum.

A cluster of ripe berries photographed on my back porch (complete with dog hair! ).

Participants in my "Fun with Vinegar" class out picking high bush cranberries and choke cherries.

Research for this blog was prepared by Rachelle Abatte, then a dietetic intern at the Northern School of Medicine.

Resources

1. St. Pierre, R. (1995, January 1). The Highbush Cranberry – A multipurpose shrub. Retrieved June 18th, 2010, Retrieved from http://gardenline.usask.ca/fruit/cranbery.html

2. Evergreen. (1991, April 1). Native Plant Database. Viburnum Trilobum. Retrieved June 18th, 2010, from:
http://nativeplants.evergreen.ca/search/view-plant.php?ID=00740

Red Currant Sorbet

I picked a basket of red currants from a friend's tree when I was visiting in Sudbury awhile ago. She said they are so easy to grow and "all you do" is buy the bush, dig a nice hole and fertilize the earth with some good compost, plant the shrub and in a year or two you have a nice crop of red currants! I just might do that. I have two kinds of plums growing here but no other fruit trees. I am going to try the same recipe again later in the fall with high bush cranberries and wild choke cherries that are so prolific this year.

I searched the net and found a recipe for sorbet that I wanted to try. The original called for 1 1/2 cup of sugar but I reduced it to one cup and still found it a bit on the sweet side.

Makes 6 servings

6 cups red currants - 1500 ml
3/4 cup - 1 cup sugar - 175 ml to 250 ml
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup Cointreau (or orange brandy) - 60 ml


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put red currants, stalks and all, into ovenproof dish. Add sugar, orange zest and fresh squeezed orange juice. Cover with lid and bake about 45 minutes. The picture shows the currants after baking when they are soft, juicy and a bit pulpy.

2. Turn cooked fruit through a food mill. The advantage of a food mill is that it purées and sieves at the same time. I was lucky to get mine at a garage sale one year for $2. You can also use a blender but you will need to push the cooked fruit through a sieve to remove all the seeds and stalks afterwards.





You should have approximately 4 cups (a liter) of juice. The red from these currants is so intense it is almost surreal. Once the berries are juiced you can freeze the syrup and make sorbet or dessert sauces at a later date. Stir in the Cointreau before you finish sorbet.

3. Put sorbet mixture into ice cream maker to freeze. Store in an airtight container and keep in the freezer until serving. Garnish with some of the fresh berries and a sprig of mint. I would show you a picture of the finished product but it seems to have "disappeared" overnight. Teenagers are suspected.

Freezing Sorbet Without an Ice-Cream Maker:
Pour the sorbet into a metal bowl. Position in freezer and freeze until barely firm. Then either process in food processor or beat with electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to freezer container and freeze again until firm.

This sorbet has zero fat and sodium and is an good source of fibre, potassium and vitamin C.
NUTRITION FACTS (per 125 ml serving): 230 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 51 g carbohydrate, 5 g fibre. % Daily Values are 4% each vitamin A and calcium, 100% vitamin C and 6% iron.


© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

Our next cooking class at Chapman's Landing is "Meal from Oaxaca" Southern Mexican cooking on Saturday August 29th. Please see my menu and register online at http://www.chapmanslanding.com

Juicing Local Berries - High Bush Cranberry, Choke Cherry etc.

Easter has just past and we ate a lot of my preserved foods during our feasting. It was only a week ago but that snow in the yard is now gone!! The punch we had for Sunday dinner was a combination of frozen high bush cranberry juice combined with an organic sparkling pear cider. Very delicious.

That was one of the brilliant things we did last fall. Actually Julie Dudgeon, a student on placement with me from Canadore College, picked local berries and pressed them through the food mill to extract the juice. We then froze the unsweetened juices in plastic zip lock bags. A refreshing break from jam and jelly! We did choke cherry and high bush cranberry and I plan to do more this year. I have also made dessert sauce for cheesecake with the juice of the high bush cranberry (they have big pits). Today the remaining high bush cranberry juice I have left defrosted might get incorporated into a maple baklava.