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Have been looking on the RHS website (thank you Rusty Lady!) and have a list of stuff I want to grow for next year. One of which is barberries - you can use them in Iranian cooking. When I typed 'barberry' in, up came berberis aka as barberry. Is this the same thing? - I hope it is as I put in a huge berberis hedge (well it will be one day, presently it's not quite knee high!) at the bottom of the garden earlier this year and it is covered in berries! So can I eat them? It doesn't say on the site.
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You may say I'm a dreamer... But I'm not the only one...
I'm an official nutter - an official 'cropper' of a nutter! I am sooooo pleased to be a cropper! Hurrah! -
Hi Ancee,I been looking & found ........
Taken from .. Super ingredients: Barberries | Life and style | The Guardianbarberries used to grow all over the place: Europe, Asia and north America, as well as the Middle East. High in pectin, they were much valued for jams and jellies by English cooks, who called them 'pipperages'.
However, they were systematically eradicated because the berries can harbour wheat rust, which devastates crops. You can still buy barberry plants at some nurseries, but it may be best not to grow them if you live near farmland.
And similarly .....
Barberries or pipperages were once commonly grown in English kitchen gardens. They were used extensively in both cookery and confectionery. There were a number of favoured varieties, most of which have been lost. One was the large fruited 'nutmeg barberry', used for garnishing boiled pike at sixteenth century livery company feasts. This was known to John Evelyn as 'the great barberry'. Evelyn also recommended a seedless variety. In more recent times the barberry was found to be a vector for wheat rust and has been more or less eradicated from English gardens, as well as its natural habitats. If you live well away from a wheat growing area, it is worth cultivating for the sake of its beautiful scarlet acidic fruits.
Taken from ..... Farced Crab
So it would seem unless you are a city dweller it might not be the best thing to re-introduce as a plant,but for culinary purposes only the dried option (zereshk) from a Middle Eastern grocer might be a better option
Last edited by bearded bloke; 29-12-2013, 02:18 PM.He who smiles in the face of adversity,has already decided who to blame
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
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Hmm Not sure which my berberis is/are! I bought it off a plant guy on the car boot sale. He'll be there again soon though once it all starts up again. I'll have to ask him and also do a bit of Miss Marpleing ont net to see if I can find it - it's green if that helps ...
You may say I'm a dreamer... But I'm not the only one...
I'm an official nutter - an official 'cropper' of a nutter! I am sooooo pleased to be a cropper! Hurrah!Comment
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Barberry!
Hi all, I'm 7 years late in seeing this thread but I'm hoping you see it anyway! I'm growing lots of Barberry (B. vulgaris) for a project I'm working on for the charity Butterfly Conservation. There is an extremely rare moth called Barberry Carpet, and it's only foodplant is B. vulgaris. It only has 12 colonies left in the UK, mainly in North Wiltshire, a couple in Gloucestershire, one in Oxfordshire and one in North Dorset. We've been providing free Barberry plants to people that live close enough to the remaining moth colonies to be able to encourage the moth to spread and link up colonies. We are working closely with crop scientists because of the stem rust issue, and their advice is that planting at least 20 metres away from arable land should ensure there's never a problem with wheat rust. I really want to encourage more people to grow Barberry - the berries are gorgeous and I've been putting them in chutneys and flapjacks. I've only recently found about all the health benefits though. Do get in touch with me if you're interested, as I've found a few suppliers of seeds and seedlings too. If you live close enough to the moths I may be able to add you to the list to get free plants too. Thanks
fhaynes@butterfly-conservation.org
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Hi Moth lady and welcome.
I'm outside your target area but I wish you every success with your project.Comment
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Does Newbury count as near enough? My hubby and I are butterfly mad so would be great if we wereComment
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There's a big berberis over the wall in my neighbour's garden, and the blackbirds absolutely gorge on the berries in autumn, so they're great for other wildlife too. Leads to lots of purply bird droppings all over the place, but still worth it.
Mostly flowers, some fruit and veg, at the seaside in Edinburgh.Comment
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Yes, blackbirds absolutely love berberis. I have a big darwinni shrub in the front garden. I've tried the berries before and they're quite pleasant if you leave them on the bush a while and a bit mouth puckering if you don't. But the blackbirds often get there first.Comment
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