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Strawberry picking season may be coming to an end here in Minnesota, but that doesn't mean you have missed your chance to be a picker this year.

Chef and cookbook author Amy Thielen joined MPR News host Tom Crann to talk about the "JV team" of berries, and why you are missing out if you haven't tried them yet.

In America when we see a purple colored spread or candy we expect it to be grape flavored — in Europe, they expect the flavor of a black currant when they see purple. 

"In Europe, it is the most popular berry flavor, I would say."

Black currants didn't really stand a chance in the states, however.

"The Ribes, as the black currant is properly known, carried a disease that threatened to wipe out the giant white pines, the lynchpin of the American logging industry," Thielen said. "Black currants were promptly banned, but by the time the black currants were cleared and reinstated in the 1960s, Americans had lost their cravings for them."

This berry has a strong sweet and tart balance, "I kind of think of it as a feral grape," she said.

Thielen also mentioned honeyberries — "They grow in fragile clusters of droopy, elongated fruit, and taste like wild foraged blueberries: intense, sweet, and tart. Excellent in tarts and pies." — and chokeberries — "They taste like a feral blackberry, with a bit of mouth-puckering tannin on the finish. I like to make a syrup from them, and then swirl it into my ice cream: vanilla with chokecherry ripple."

Chokecherry Cordial

To listen to their conversation, click the audio player above.

Tom Crann

Author

Strawberry picking season may be coming to an end here in Minnesota, but that doesn't mean you have missed your chance to be a picker this year.


Appetites: The JV team of berries still deserves some time on your table

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