Golden currant (Ribes aureum) in bloom at Ash Canyon.
The flowers are wonderfully fragrant, like vanilla spiced with cloves.
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19 April 2024 - Friday Field Notes
Pond scum 🐸
Spiderweb with condensation and frost on the left and Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) on the right.
The prairie is largely still sleeping. We've had very wide ranging temperatures the past few weeks, everywhere between below freezing up to the low eighties, 30-80°F. And of course, it snowed yesterday lol.
Apart from the early spring bloomers, most of the plants seem to be biding their time for more consistent temps.
On the left, what I think, is Douglas's Sedge (Carex douglasii) and on the right, Purple Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii)(Or is it a milkvetch? My coworkers and I have not come to a consensus, but Seek said locoweed, so I'll go with that for now. It's pretty, whoever they are).
Some of my native plant starts at my house have started germinating though! Which is exciting! I potted these back in mid-February and just left the trays outside to do their thing. A couple more weeks and, hopefully there'll be some more green.
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Time for: Random fruit from my yard
Went and picked some golden currants the other day; they're a little tart, but sweet, and have the perfect pit to flesh ratio for eating as they are.
Got a small amount of chokecherries (#4). The birds get to them pretty fast, they're more tart than currants and dry out your mouth; while they're typically used for preserves I've never collected enough to make any myself.
The plums are getting ripe too, the tree in the photo is one of the younger ones and only starting fruiting a year or two ago. The skin is bitter but the flesh is sweet, and I've been told they make a good jam; that's what my great grandma used to make with them.
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A trip to my local Central Market today yielded some lovely finds. Besides figs, burgundy cherry tomatoes, and blueberries, I also got yellow dragonfruit (a favorite), starfruit, red currants, golden berries... and mangosteen! Grelle's fruit! 😆
Here's some info on golden berry: "Golden berries are also known as Inca berry, Peruvian groundcherry, poha berry, goldenberry, husk cherry and cape gooseberry." -- Wikipedia
They are in the nightshade family and taste like a cross between a sweet pepper, mango, and pineapple. Their seeds look like the groundcherry husk tomatoes that I tried to raise this spring but failed. Just like tomatillos, these fruits grow in little husks that are not edible.
I'd never had fresh red currants before, and they are very tangy. Yellow dragonfruit is sweeter and generally has more flavor than the red-skinned variety with white flesh, though the yellow ones also have white flesh. And I love starfruit, though it has an odd flavor; it's a bit hard to describe.
I'd never had mangosteen before, so this is exciting. However, I can see for myself that they really do not ship very well, despite their really thick skins. Taste wise, it's a bit like lychee or rambutan -- sweet and kind of floral.
I'll be trying to germinate seeds from some of these fruits....
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Considered mixing them together for jam, but I'm so glad I didn't. Might only get a couple jars of golden raspberry and red currant, but they're so damn good. It's the first time I try golden raspberry jam and was shocked how flavourful it is. The berries aren't anything special as they are, compared to regular raspberries, but once cooked, the delicate, floral flavour is really brought out. So if you have the chance, definity give it a try.
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