How to Pick Wild Serviceberries

Serviceberries have been documented at least since Colonial times. Serviceberries are one of the first plants to bloom in the spring, with beautiful white flowers blooming shortly after the ground thaws. Serviceberries are native to every U.S. state except Hawaii. Technically serviceberries are related to the apple, but they have more of a sweet berry taste. Serviceberries ripen in June in temperate areas and may ripen as late as mid July in more northern states. In some places serviceberries are called juneberries, because they often ripen in early June. The fruit is only about an inch long and turns a deep purple when ripe, with vestiges of the flower's blooms still on the ends of the fruit.

Gloves
Pail

Instructions

- 1
  Wear long, protective clothing. While wild serviceberries do not have thorns, branches can still scratch and thorny plants can grow alongside serviceberries. Look for serviceberry plants along the bottoms of boggy areas and along the sunny edges of woods and forests.
- 2
  Wrap your hand around a bunch of ripe, purple serviceberries and pull gently, popping the berries off the bush and into a pail positioned beneath the berries. Small pieces of stem may remain attached to the berries.
- 3
  Remove all stems from berries once you have returned home and wash the berries under running water. Fill a bowl with water and place the berries in the bowl, discarding any that float.
- 4
  Set the berries on paper towels to dry. Berries can be eaten raw, or may be cooked in water to extract juice for jam, syrup, pies or other uses. Cooked seeds are harmless to eat -- raw seeds contain minuscule amounts of cyanide and should not be eaten in quantity.

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