Kousa Dogwood fruit

In researching edible wild plants I came across an article about the fruit of the Kousa Dogwood tree. It sounded like something I wanted to try, so I was excited to hear that my friend and fellow gardener, Michelle has a Kousa. The Kousa Dogwood, Cornus kousa, is also known as the Chinese Dogwood. It is the Dogwood with the late season white flowers. I had never seen the fruit before, so was quite surprised when Michelle brought some over. It is very striking. As you can see from the photo the berries are red and have a very distinct shape. You will notice that they are varying shades of red, which is due to their ripeness. Upon first taste I found the berry to be very bitter and the skin very distasteful. After googling it I found out that only the inner pulp is edible, and that it needs to be fully ripe before becoming tasty.






The berry on the left is not ripe yet. The one on the right, which is bulging and much darker is fully ripe.





You need to pull the berry apart and just suck in the pulp, which is a delicate blob of a very different pleasant to me taste.





It reminds me of a special nectar, and why should it be enjoyed only by the birds.





I found that not every berry had a seed, which seemed curious. Nevertheless I kept the seeds I did find, dried them out and have planted them. We shall see if and when I get my own berry toting Kousa!!




Naturally I went right out and tried the berries from my red Dogwood out front. Ugh, they were disgusting!!! Let the birds have 'em!! LOL