Summer Jewels - Berries
BLACKBERRIES: (Close relatives are the dewberry and loganberry.) Widely available from May through August, shop for firm, deep red-purple berries without hulls attached. Hulls mean they're not fully mature. Eat out of hand; bake in pies and cobblers; puree in fools; mix with other berries. The large seeds may be a drawback in some recipes.
BLUEBERRIES: (Large-seed Huckleberries, which grow wild, and the tart, wild bilberry or whortleberry are relatives.) Cultivated blueberries, a major U.S. crop for the past 60 years, are most likely to be found at market. Smaller, more intensely flavored wild blueberries are only available fresh where they are grown - or frozen. Blueberries are available June through September; imported berries are available almost year-round. Blueberries, like strawberries, are an all-purpose berry.
CURRANTS: Not to be confused with the dried zante grapes from Greece that are sold as currants. True currants are tiny white, red or black berries native to northern Europe, and are more popular there. Some currants are grown in the United States. They're hard to find but worth looking for in farmers' markets from June through August. Use them for eating out of hand and as you would use blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.
ELDERBERRIES: Purple-black tiny clusters of berries are the fruit of the elderberry tree and available only locally in the fall, beginning in September. A little too tart to eat out of hand, they're marvelous cooked in sauces, chutneys, pies, muffins, jams and jellies.
GOOSEBERRIES: A relative of the currant, gooseberries are large, the size of small grapes, translucent and green; some are smooth and some are hairy. Too tart to be eaten out of hand, they are marvelous cooked in pies, jams and fools.
LINGONBERRIES: Close relatives of the cranberry, also called cowberry, these tiny tart, red berries are used like cranberries and are very hard to find fresh, except in their native Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and Maine.
MULBERRIES: These white, red and purplish-black berries are not cultivated and are therefore difficult to find. But the red varieties grow wild on trees in the eastern, southern and mid-western United States, ripening in summer. They're sweet and delicate in flavor, and they can be eaten out of hand or used as an all-purpose berry.
RASPBERRIES: The undisputed royalty of the berry kingdom comes in white, yellow, purple, red and black. Red is the most common variety, available May through September. Raspberries are the most fragile of berries and should be used the day of purchase.