Most farm residence websites had fruit timber, primarily peaches and pears to be eaten recent, cooked into pies and cobblers or made into preserves. Many households added figs, muscadine grapes and pomegranates to be eaten recent and/or made into preserves or jellies. Just a few individuals planted apple timber however these don’t do effectively in South Georgia.
Pecan and black walnut timber do flourish and contributed to a wholesome and assorted food regimen. (Apart: anybody relying on nourishment from black walnuts for survival may starve whereas making an attempt to extract nut meat from convoluted locations of their onerous shells.)
Along with these homegrown sources of enjoyment, nation people relied on fruits and berries from the wild. They vary from a tangy wild sibling of the muscadine vine within the yard to “sparkle” berries which might be solely marginally value consuming.
The native or wild muscadines, typically referred to as bullises, ripen in late summer season to early fall and had been favored treats by kids and might be used to make jelly and wine. Native plums made vibrant the times of late spring. One selection, in colours of crimson or yellow, was one other “eat off the bush” favourite that might be used for jelly. One other kind, referred to as hog plums as a result of solely hogs would eat them, remained bitter to the top.
Blackberries, which additionally ripened in late spring to early summer season, had been maybe probably the most versatile of untamed bounties. A sub-set — dewberries — grows on the bottom, trailing throughout the highest of the grass — few berries and briers that punish naked ft. Bushes rising blackberries may be discovered in lots of locations, typically conveniently in fence rows the place they had been “planted” by birds perched on fence wires. These had been and are good consuming straight off the bush despite the fact that pickers pay a value of scratches from “vicious” briers. Just a few “grandma girls” made wine from blackberry juice, ostensibly “for the abdomen’s sake”, however there are reviews that it was very tasty. The berries had been cooked into varied desserts, all of which have pesky seeds that lodge between enamel. Blackberry jelly tastes higher than any different. My Woman Annette pursued blackberries as in the event that they had been gold yearly, laboriously “juiced” them and made jelly from the juice. I nonetheless have slightly jar of it from her final “making” almost a decade in the past.
One other favourite berry kind is huckleberry/blueberry. These are kids in the identical household and style alike, however they’re completely different. Huckleberries are black and develop on bushes 4 to 6 ft excessive, typically in wooded areas. Blueberries are blue. Their bushes are sometimes one to 2 ft excessive, rising in open locations within the woods. These are the very best “off the bush” berries, tasty and blessed with small seeds. Pies and cobblers made with huckle/blues are unbeatable desserts. They perk up cereal and taste ice cream.
Choosing both blackberries or huckle/blues may be harmful. Rattlesnakes generally lurk below the bushes to prey on birds and small animals drawn to the berries. At an early age, kids in my household had been taught to watch out at berry patches. We had been reminded that my maternal grandfather, Rudolph “Rudy” Williams, virtually died from a rattlesnake chunk that occurred whereas he was selecting huckleberries.
Returning on foot from a fishing journey to the Ohoopee River, three or 4 miles distant from his residence, he observed a huckleberry bush heavy with fruit simply off his path. He delighted on this delicacy recent or in a cobbler and turned apart to eat and collect. Nearly instantly, he was struck by a rattlesnake. He despatched his brother who was with him at a run to Cobbtown some 5 – 6 miles away to fetch a health care provider. He used a shoe lace for a tourniquet, minimize out a plug from his shin throughout the fang entrance and walked residence. Since antivenin treatment needed to be introduced from a ways away, efficient therapy got here late and he was very ailing however survived to fish and hunt and eat cobbler, residing till age 89.
We ate different berries. There was the “gopher berry,” presumably eaten by gopher tortoises, not juicy or flavorful, however edible. In my neck of the woods was an deserted area that in time grew up in oaks, hickories and cedars and left an open under-story during which grew “sparkle berry” bushes. As within the case of gopher berry, I do know no different identify for it. The small, shiny berries ripened in late autumn, not juicy or flavorful, however edible. One kind low-growing haw bush produces small fruit crowded with onerous seed. Totally ripe, it has a form of apple taste however has so little fruit across the seed that it’s troublesome to style something.
Some fruits and berries weren’t eaten, not less than not by everybody. Goose berries might need been advantageous for geese however not people. Some individuals ate wild persimmons, which had been plentiful. Except the fruit is ripe — fall off the tree ripe — it would flip one’s lips inside out and almost numb. I discovered it virtually inedible at greatest and never definitely worth the effort, given the sparse quantity of fruit flesh as in comparison with seed. Go away them to the possums. They may eat something.
Roger G. Department Sr. is professor emeritus of sociology at Georgia Southern College and is a retired pastor.
