A Delicious Solution
Rebecca Bland – Washington County Public Schools
“Can we eat the berries?”
It’s a common question, one I hear frequently from fifth-graders during the Nature’s Invaders lesson at Fairview Outdoor School in Washington County, Maryland, after we’ve identified the highly invasive Japanese Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). The plant got its name from the wine-colored, hair-like thorns that give its canes their distinctive color, making it easy to identify even in winter months.
The Japanese wineberry was brought to America toward the end of the 19thcentury (Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 2024). The plan was to use this hardy, disease-resistant, pest-resistant plant as a breeding stock for native cultivars2. The breeding stock idea never took off, but the wineberry certainly did. By the 1970s, the wineberry had spread throughout most of the eastern United States3. The wineberry propagates both by seeds contained in bird droppings, and by rootlets formed after the tips of its bending canes make prolonged contact with the ground.
“Can we eat the berries?”
“Certainly, we can eat them,” I tell the students. “When they are in season.” Although outdoor education classes for fifth graders at Fairview end well before wineberries ripen, I want students to understand that one way to control the spread of an invasive species is to make a positive use of it. Of course, no wild fruit or berry should be consumed unless vetted by a knowledgeable adult. This crucial point must be stressed to all children.
The wineberry is juicy and sweet but with a refreshing tartness. It pairs well with the less-juicy, stronger-flavored native black raspberry. The wineberry has a slightly earlier season which gives it a jump-start over the native plant, thus overwhelming and choking it. Late June finds me picking the juicy red wineberries on my property and then popping them into freezer bags. Afterwards, I mercilessly lop off the canes of the wineberry plants. I know they will be back next year, but I am slowing their advance.
Just as the wineberries fade, native black raspberries come into season. I pick them, too, and add them to the thawed wineberries to make a delicious jelly.
Students always ask, “What can we do to stop invasive species?” There is no simple answer. The problem of invasives requires a multi-pronged approach. But students can help spread the word about one innovative solution.
From garlic mustard pesto, to sauteed kudzu, to baked Chesapeake Channa4, to wineberry jelly, culinary preparations can halt the spread of invasive species, one delicious dish at a time.
Recipe for Wineberry-Raspberry Jelly (makes about 7 jars – 8 oz. size)
Ingredients
- 10 cups of berries (any ratio of wineberry to black raspberry; I use 5 cups of each)
- 6 ½ cups sugar
- 1 box fruit pectin (1.75 oz.)
Directions
- Follow directions included on the fruit pectin box insert for making raspberry jelly.
Notes
- When the wineberries thaw, they make their own juice; I simmer them together with the black raspberries to help with the juicing process.
- I often freeze the black raspberries, also; that way I can choose my time for making the jelly.
- Red raspberries can be used in place of black raspberries.
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