Nebraskaland

42 Nebraskaland • June 2023 and fi lled it with cherries in a mere half hour. The next day, I pitted the cherries and froze some in quart jars for later use. I baked the remaining cherries into a pie using a pioneer family recipe that Wessel had found online. Following the recipe, I combined 1 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of fl our, then added 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. I poured this mixture over 1 quart of pitted sand cherries, which I had placed in an unbaked bottom pie crust inside a baking dish. Next, I put the top crust in place and baked the pie at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Dang, the pie was good: I kicked myself for not picking a 5-gallon bucket of the cherries. Raspberries and Blackberries Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) and two species of highbush blackberry (R. pensilvanicus and R. allegheniensis) are other members of the rose family found in Nebraska that produce tasty fruits. The thicket- forming shrubs are easily identifi ed by their arching, purplish, semi-woody stems that bear curved thorns and grow in similar sunny to partially- shaded habitats. Black raspberry is common over the eastern half of the state. Its fl owers appear in late May and the berries ripen in late June and early July. The late- blooming fl owers are not susceptible to late frosts, and the plants bear fruit in most years. In my humble opinion, raspberries are the most divine-tasting of our wild fruits. Unfortunately, you will be hard-pressed to pick a pail full. From a few nice thickets, however, you can enjoy them fresh by the handful or harvest enough for a few pints of jam or batch of delicious muffi ns or scones. Fortunately, the wild shrubs are easily transplanted. We moved several plants into our backyard that, when properly pruned in winter, produces a good crop the following summer. Cultivated raspberries, usually a hybrid of Nebraska natives and other species, are available, and although the berries are good, they lack the intense fl avor of wild berries. The two species of highbush blackberry, which are very similar in appearance, grow in southeastern Nebraska, mainly in counties bordering the Missouri River. The shrubs fl ower May through June, and the berries ripen in slow procession to shiny black in color late July through August. Although generally larger in size, blackberries trail behind raspberries with regard to fl avor. But don't get me wrong, they are still a treat to eat fresh from the bush on a hot summer day. For cooking, they can be used in the same manner as raspberries: baked into pies, muffi ns, scones and pancakes or preserved as jams, jellies and sauces. And who has not been tempted by blackberry brandy or wine? Blackberries are less abundant in our state than raspberries, and fi nding sites where they can be harvested in abundance is a challenge. I have picked suffi cient berries for jam-making from rocky pastures in Jeff erson County and the oak woodlands at Indian Cave State Park in Nemaha and Richardson counties. Native Americans surely picked both raspberries and blackberries from these same areas, enjoying them fresh and dried for winter use. Active managers of the land, they often set fi re to eastern Nebraska woodlands to limit tree densities and promote these and other sun-loving, fruit-bearing plants. In recent years, the Game and Parks Commission has conducted prescribed burns at Indian Cave to enhance native plants and improve wildlife habitat. A result of the burning, blackberries and raspberries have fl ourished in the park. Unripe red and ripe black raspberries. Native Americans ate the berries fresh and dried them in the sun for later use.

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