Do you have the opportunity to pick fresh fruit?

We have 2 cherry trees, a pear tree, and a granny smith apple tree.

We have a ton of pears right now.

We had raspberry, blueberry and strawberry bushes in our garden – all good for picking at the moment.

@TheOnlyNeffie

Lucky. I love granny smith apples, but all we have is a Macintosh tree. :( They’re still good though.

We also have cherry trees, berry bushes, a peach tree, various citrus trees, and a loquat tree. Loquats are definitely my favorite because they’re not easy to find.

Edit: We have them in our garden, no had.

Only from the farmers’ market stalls.
But when I visited my friend in rural Pennsylvania I did.
Picked grapes off the arbor in her backyard.

@TheOnlyNeffie Aw, you’re so fortunate with the cherries and ESPECIALLY the pears! I love pears…

@zenele YES! We moved into a new house in Dec 09 and there were already 4 established fruit trees – 1 nectarine, 1 red plum, 1 yellow plum, 1 pomegranate. We didn’t have much fruit to pick when we moved in here because i think the previous owners took all they could before they moved out, haha. We did have plenty of pomegranates, but the bugs got to them first before they got ripe. :( :( :( We had a FEW nectarines and plums.
So if i can learn how to keep the birds and bugs at bay, we’ll have lots of fruit to pick next time they fruit! :D

My dad grows strawberries in his garden and he also has raspberries, plums, apples and blackberries.

I go up on the moors and pick wimberries, blackberries & sloes.
In my garden I have blackcurrants, strawberries & grapes

Sadly, only at the farmer’s market.

There are a couple of nice orchards around here, and we usually go once a year to pick whatever is in season. In the past, we’ve picked blueberries, apples, pears, and peaches. We also have raspberry bushes in the field behind our yard. They belong to a neighbor, but he said if we don’t pick them the birds will just eat them so to help ourselves. I guess he got tired of raspberries, which is incredible to me. They’re so yummy! I know peaches are in season now and I’m hoping to go pick some later this week.

This year we noticed something really strange about the raspberry bush. Several of the branches produced white raspberries, which we’ve never seen in the four years we’ve lived here. They taste just like red raspberries, but are a creamy yellow when ripe.

I have access to an orange tree… that’s about it.

There are some U-Pick farms in the area where we can get berries when they’re in season. That’s always nice. You do have to pay by the pound, though.

Ooooooo! Prickly Pear!! I made an awesome Meade with prickly pear fruit!! It was heaven sent nectar!! YUM! I grow strawberries and raspberries and now trying a grape vine which is bearing fruit as we speak. Nothing beats fresh hand picked fruit!! YUM yum YUM!

We have orange trees here. I can go pick my own strawberries and pay and go home. That is always a adventure. Kinda fun I think

Here at college, no which really sucks. However back home I have an orange tree, an apricot tree, a tree with fruit that I’m not sure of but are tasty, a cherry plum tree, nectarine tree, spearmint bushes, and strawberries.

We didn’t get any sabras this year from our potted cactus. Maybe next year. I planted some baby fruit trees a few years ago that are just starting to produce a few fruits (cherry, plum, nectarine, pear, papa, apple and kiwi vines). It is fun to watch the trees respond to my care as they grow. Our baby pomegranate tree is growing so slow that I likely won’t live long enough to see it flower but it is nice to know that people and animals of the future may appreciate and enjoy its fruit.

In autumn, my friends and I will go apple picking in the country.

Yes, we have lime, orange and grapefruit trees, all of which I eat often and cook with. Like you, we also have cactus fruits but I don’t care for them as much as the neighborhood birds seem to.

I picked fresh peaches at my sister’s yesterday and had some, sliced, on cereal this morning.

Yes, cherries up in Northern Michigan.

Traverse City “Cherry Capital of the World”

If you want to get technical, I’ve been picking fruit daily the past week or so as my tomatoes ripen. There are three big bowls of tomatoes already waiting to be made into sauce!

And, I found out today that eggplant are considered fruits. Soon I’ll have some of those to pick as well!

@MissAusten Really? I always thought they were a type of squash. Huh.

Eggplant is a fruit we consume as a vegetable. Technically a berry.

Just a tidbit I found when trying to figure out when mine would be ready to pick. I’ve never grown eggplant before.

I planted watermelons too, but so far they are only the size of golf balls, and I don’t know if they will grow fast enough to ripen before the season ends.

oh , how I’d love that. No.
Only shriveled up bell peppers and tomatoes.

I live in a high desert region and no fruit trees or berry bushes grown near here (or much of anything else that humans eat) without large scale irrigation. I am also fairly far north of those of most of you who have fruit trees. There are regions of a neighbouring province where wonderful fruit trees do grow. The Okanogan valley of British Columbia is famous for tree fruit and vineyards.

@Seek_Kolinahr Squash is also a fruit. Fruits and vegetables are easy to separate when you consider how the plant generates them. If the plant products was made through sexual reproduction (flower and pollen) then it is a fruit (if you cut into it and see seeds, then it’s a fruit). If plant part was made through the vegetative process then it is a vegetable (potato, carrot, rutabaga, celery, etc). Of course people generally just call these edible delights whatever they want to. That’s cool. They are still taste great, they keep you regular and are real good for you,

We have guest farms/orchards within an hour drive of us where people can go and pick their own fruits.

I never realized you could eat those things that grow on the prickly pear cactus. They are considered a nuisance here but grow most everywhere.

We have honey bananas, paw paws, passion fruit and a tangerine tree in our yard. My favorite are the honey bananas, they are so small but do absolutely taste like honey. I love them!

Now I am going to hunt for some cactus so I can eat those things. What do they taste like?

@rooeytoo ‘Member my lasagna and shakshuka recipes? Wanna learn how to pick and eat sabra fruit – if you have them there – may as well – they have more vitamin c and calcium than kiwifruit! And when chilled – delish. The leaves (yup) can be made into a salad too.

You mean you eat the cactus plant itself, is that what you mean by leaves? Yep we have them here but I haven’t seen any around town, have to wait until we go bush again.

I use your shakshuka recipe usually once a week. I am not a great fan of lasagna so haven’t tried that one. What other culinary delights do you have in your aresenal???

@zenele: What is shakshuka? Would you mind sharing that recipie with me because we’ve got cactus in our yard and I’d like to give a go at making a dish of sorts from the leaves and fruits, others might like it a lot.

@Neizvestnaya Try this

Shakshuka is something else – it’s a recipe for tomato sauce and eggs. Maybe @rooeytoo can share the recipe with us – as everyone does it a bit differently.

It’s basically your own tomatoe sauce for pasta, then add eggs on top; cover (best to cover with a see thru cover to watch the eggs) for about 7 minutes – less if you like runnier eggs – and voila.

@zenele: Oh- Shakshuka. I want a recipie for cactus stuff too. Thanks!

@Neizvestnaya The link has tons of info and recipes for sabras. I actually just eat it, and sometimes make jam. I can’t think of any “recipes” for it – it’s a fruit – though I’m sure there are for baking and stuff – I’m lazier when it comes to baking than cooking.

:-)

@zenele: Look, a link! DOH.

So you noticed it? The “Try this” link had all kinds of other links to recipes for sabras:

Recipes with Sabras
•Cooks.com: Prickly Pear Viniagrette
•Daniel Rogov: Sabra Souffle
•RFCJ: Prickly Pear and Pineapple Jam
•Eating Wild: Prickly Pear Cookies
•Epicurious: Coconut Tarts with Prickly Pear Sauce
•AndyBoy.com: Prickly Pear Smoothie

Enjoy.

@Neizvestnaya – I don’t know anything about Sabras except what @zenele just wrote. In Australia they are considered a pest and the government is trying to eradicate them.

But his Shakshuka is wonderful. I googled it and there are numerous variations, all good!

Here in the near “seasonless” Southern California area there seems to be something ready for picking at any time of year. Currently, between our own backyard, those of my neighbors or at my Mom’s place, we have multiple varieties of oranges and lemons, limes, grapefruit, peaches, apricots, tomatoes, avocados and squash with melons and guava ready soon. Darn near anything planted here will grow and produce thanks in no small part to the precious water provided from many miles to our north (around where @AstroChuck and @YARNLADY call home).
See ya…...Gary/wtf

@rooeytoo One day, my friend, I shall realize my dream of visiting your beautiful country and we will have a shakshuka-out.

:-)

Okey dokey, I have the tomato plants started so we can use fresh out of the garden. And maybe by then I’ll have a few chooks of my own and we can gather the fresh eggs too!

What about point-ed sticks?