Japanese dogwood - fruit edible or not?

Japanese dogwood - fruit edible or not?

Fruits are edible, but not always tasty

Japanese flowering dogwood is cultivated in its East Asian homeland not only for its distinctive flowers, but also for the fruits. Their appearance is reminiscent of raspberries or litchis, but they don't taste as aromatic as these. The flesh is orange in color and has a gelatinous consistency. In addition, the fruit is covered by a rather leathery skin. Only very ripe fruits (recognizable by their dark red color, they should also be very soft) have a very sweet taste, although the gelatinous mouthfeel is not for everyone when eaten raw.

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Process the fruits of the Japanese dogwood

However, this as well as the rather tough skin is lost when the fruit is cooked, especially the peel almost completely overcooked. Only the kernels - after all, it is a stone fruit - should be sieved out. For this reason, you can process fruits of the Japanese dogwood very well into jam, jelly, fruit juice or liqueur.

Cook Marmelade

The taste of dogwood fruits goes very well with sweet apples, which is why they do

  • 300 grams of dogwood fruits
  • 150 grams of apples
  • 500 grams of preserving sugar (ratio 1: 1)

can be boiled with a little apple juice to make a delicious jam. The fruits should of course be washed well beforehand, the apples peeled, removed and cut into small pieces. Make sure to cook the fruit until the skin has disintegrated, and the jam should then pass through a sieve or cloth and only then be filled into glasses.

Prepare the liqueur

A fruity liqueur is made from the raspberry-like fruits, especially in Japan, which you can of course try at home.

  • Half-fill an empty and cleaned liquor bottle with washed dogwood fruits.
  • In addition, there is still sugar or raw sugar in there,
  • about two thirds of the amount of fruit.
  • The whole thing is topped up with at least 37.5 percent vodka,
  • well closed
  • and stored in a cool and dark place for several weeks.
  • Shake the bottle regularly.
  • After about four to six weeks you will taste the whole thing
  • and add sugar if necessary.

Tips

The fruits of the red dogwood (only cooked) and the cornel cherry are also edible.