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Column: Wild berries abound this month in the Shuswap

Simply Food/Afke Zonderland
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This year’s abundant June rains have produced amazing crops of wild berries to complement the raspberries that may be growing in your yard. Saskatoons and unripe elderberries weigh down branches, while wild blueberries in the Larch Hills are not far behind. (File photo)

This year’s abundant June rains have produced amazing crops of wild berries.

Saskatoons weigh down the branches as are the yet unripe elderberries.

Wild blueberries in the Larch Hills are not far behind.

Make a family day of it and fill your tummy, freezer and pantry with nature’s most valuable berries that score top marks on the ORAC charts.

Just a word to the wise about elderberries. Do not eat fresh elderberries or lick your fingers while you are picking. The leaves and under ripe berries are toxic.

Fully ripe elderberries must be cooked and strained to make juice or jellies in sealed jars or fermented. I’ve been told that they make a very respectable wine.

You can visit Jed and Louise at their elderberry farm in Salmon Arm to get a taste of their expertly handcrafted juices and elderberry cordial.

Related: Shuswap farmers find success with super berry

This wonderful immune booster at the end of summer is reported to slow down or diminish the duration and severity of a cold or the flu.

The ORAC values are developed by the National Institute of Health and is described as follows. The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) unit, ORAC value, or “ORAC score” is a method of measuring the in vitro antioxidant capacity of different foods and supplements.

These numbers are just numbers and although valuable, how the body utilizes these free radical “Pac Men” for rejuvenation and good health continues to have a mysterious side.

I just know that berries are delicious, easily absorbed and full of energetic vibrancy.

You can find a complete list of 500 different foods on www.superfoodworldly.com for some surprising results.

In the meantime, we are picking a bumper crop of black currants (ORAC 9000) red currants and raspberries.

Related: It’s an excellent year for Saskatoon berries in the Shuswap

They are superb for green smoothies in the winter months and entertain ‘our’ children as they fill their bellies and mash them up for their version of a Rawsome Jam.

Here’s Lyla’s favourite recipe:

•1 tbs. of date paste or honey (Dates will absorb extra juice and thicken the jam)

•1 cup of raspberries

• ½ cup of red currants

• ½ cup of black currants or Saskatoons

• 1 tbsp of chia seeds if the jam is too runny.

Mash with a fork and use on pancakes with ‘whipper’ cream. Add to yogurt or make a parfait presentation in layers of granola, yogurt, whipping cream and jam.

Lila says that it tastes the best on vanilla ice cream.

(A food processor saves time with the same results for adults in a hurry.)


@SalmonArm
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