food: barberry jam

[redbird]

cattitude bought barberry jam a while ago, and I recently opened the jar, tasted a bit on a spoon, and then added some to my oatmeal.

It's a mild, pleasant berry flavor.

The jam is thick/solid enough that it didn't mix into the oats the way some other kinds of jam do, and I don't think it would work well in yogurt. I want to try it on bread (or pancakes?). J djd like the little lumps of barberry flavor in some of the oats, which also had maple syrup, fresh blueberries, and pecan pieces.

Comments

[tarasacon]

I’m currently in love with a gooseberry jam, and a black currant jam, both from Tiptree.

Growing up in Oregon, we harvested the berries from oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) and huckleberries (Vaccinium species), and my mom would make jam. We’d also pick blackberries, but those usually just got eaten out of hand, or sometimes baked into a pie.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried barberries in any form.

I was very excited to try mulberries after I moved to Kentucky, and found them utterly bland, and not at all worth the effort. It was very disappointing.

[redbird]

Mulberries seem to range from extremely bland to a mildly pleasant flavor. I'm not sure how much of that is differences between kinds of mulberry (white or purple) and how much is the year or differences between individual trees.

I do know that mallards like them--when we lived in Inwood, there was a mulberry overhanging the tidal marsh. The ripe berries would fall onto the water or mud (depending on whether the tide was in), and I got used to watching the ducks eat them. This has nothing to do with whether humans will like the fruit, I just found it amusing. (I also found it amusing that I took up bird watching, and started paying attention to the tides, when we moved to Manhattan.)