Eating apples and crab apples compared

Tree Walk at St Ann's with David Bevan on 12 Oct 2010

The day of our tree walk and launch of the Tree Project dawned fair: so far the Weather Gods were on our side. I have links with St Ann’s as a patient going back many years, and although I have enjoyed and appreciated the trees on so many occasions throughout that time, I knew little about them and it took other people’s enthusiasm and knowledge to wake me up to the treasures we have there.

David Bevan turned out to be that rare combination of expert and gifted communicator, and he and Gemma worked well as a team, with her letting us know which of the fruits were tasty and safe to eat and what was not.

There was a fantastic turn-out for the walk, sixty-plus, and many people were keen to try the different fruits and take pictures. I learned what a ‘true service tree’ looks like, if not why it is called that! And that ‘sorbs’ look like little apples and little pears, but that they should be harvested and left to go brown before being eaten.

However counter-intuitive that may seem, I can vouch for the fact that brown sorbs are 100% delicious, a unique appley-date confection which I can imagine making delicious fruit-bars with or possibly a baked ‘sorb slice’...like a date slice with sorbs as the filling. You can see how my mind works!

Other notable trees on the walk were the mulberry, the Strawberry tree, and some rare hawthorns. By the time we reached the apple tree, hungry walkers were collecting windfalls and chomping into them with relish. The walk was rounded off with tea, coffee and delicious biscuits at the Water Tower, Tamara’s base for her Sculpture and Peace Garden project.

Zoe

Different coloured and sized sorbs

The fruit vary in appearance.










Here we have a yellow fruited tree and another with larger red-flushed fruit growing close together.

F's drawing

Sorbus domestica branch, drawn on 20 Oct 2010

Tasting True Service Fruits 23 Oct 2010

They look brown and squashy and a bit off-putting, but they taste fantastic - like apple and date blended together! BUT SPIT OUT THE PIPS - ACCORDING TO RAY MEAR'S WILD FOOD BOOK YOU SHOULDN'T EAT THEM.

Harvesting True Service Fruits 23 Oct 2010

 We hit the fruits down onto nets, then gathered them up

... Hard hats recommended!

Sorbus domestica - True Service Tree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbus_domestica

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Sorbus+domestica

http://worcestershire.whub.org.uk/home/wcc-bio-s19-trueservice-2.pdf

http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/ady_fruit.php
extract from PFAF article 'Fruit - Food of the Gods':
The bletted fruits. Certain fruits, such as Mespilus germanica (the medlar) and Sorbus domestica, (the service tree) do not ripen fully in this climate. They are picked in late autumn and will then ripen slowly in store. They do not become edible raw until they are almost at the point of going rotten (a process known as bletting), but when at this stage taste like a delicious tropical fruit. However, you do need to be careful because if you overdo the bletting the fruits will ferment in your stomach and cause digestive problems.

http://wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/Issue%2015/sorb_tree.htm