I forage for morels, ramps, and fiddleheads this time of year. I have been looking for May apples for about 15 years... Out of tens of thousands of plants, I've never seen a ripe May apple This is awesome.
My husband and I found our first morel just this year and I’ve been foraging for a long time. Oh my gosh, they’re the best mushroom I’ve ever had in my life. I can see why people don’t give away their secret spots!! This is my first time hearing of may apples!!
@@MermaidMakes congrats!!! There is no greater joy than finding your own morel spot. Wait until you start dreaming about morels! When you have a great year and spend hours hunting, the morel dreams start to happen. I've never had a better rush than finding patches of morels, chanterelles, and trumpet mushrooms. Dry out the morels if you have enough, their flavor intensifies when dried.
Same!! Ive known about this stuff for forever, since ive always liked plants and learning about wild edibles. But, ive only in recent years gone after the things you mention. Never tried a mayapple, but I have seen them ripe, in NY state, in August, when the leaves are fading. Just tried fiddleheads this year, surprisingly tasty, tho I made mush. I knew of a few little colonies of ramps, but last weekend a friend showed me a new place that was ramp paradise, with little new ones growing as well! As for morels, I've only found a single one, idk why. I need to go out further than parks to find a good patch of those.
They bloom in May. My mother used to make mayapple marmalade. We picked and ate them raw as well. You had to wait until they were soft, and they'd get a faint lemony aroma. We would eat the entire fruit, skin, seeds and all.
I forage for these every year. I make marmalade and jelly from them and eat them raw. I make cold drinks and Mayapple fizzies from them. Easily one of my favorite wild fruits. I am always careful because the unripe ones can cause some seriously unwanted effects. I am the founder of the Midwest Wild Edibles & Foragers Society, and I do lectures all around, but rarely chat about this little gem.
I do avoid the seeds and skin when eating ripe. They are super nasty for your insides. If you want a tip on keeping animals away from your patch, if you're a male, pee around the circumference every time you have to go. Have the dog pee around the patch. Animals stay away from the patch.
I think it's rather nice because speaking as an American there hasn't been much if any public education about foods that can be foraged at least not in a long time
The confusion around the name "mandrake" made these really fascinating plants for pre-goth children in small towns back in the 60s, before we had an internet to look them up on. I bet I'm not the only kid who pulled them up to see if the roots would scream.
I did it too....risking madness since i did not have a black dog to pull it up for me. I figured the lack of scream and the disappointing shape of the root was due to not finding it beneath a gallows tree.
@@gu244 But...but that would require effort! It would mean learning something--brrrrr, perish the thought. And worst of all, it might interfere with the inclination to dish out mean-spirited snark to complete strangers. Can't have that sort of improvement going on everywhere, now can we?
these things grew in bunches on my grandmothers land. I remember needing to get my stomach pumped as a child because I ate an unripe one. I thought these were common, they're really common in my state. we called them "gopher gourds" because gophers and groundhogs absolutely love them.
Really common around here, too. I have never tried one because a neighbor scared me off when I was young with horrifying tales of MANDRAKE. He was thinking of Mandragora, lol. I even dug it up to hear the roots scream...alas, Podophyllum is mute.
Your description of the flavor is spot on. The most difficult thing is finding them when they're perfectly ripe. I'm considering growing a patch in a cage to keep the critters out. Heck, deer eat everything in my woods. The understory is pretty well nonexistent. I did once gather enough that a friend and I made some delicious jam. That was in another state, and another lifetime though.
That sounds like some really special jam!! For good company only! Similar to the dandelion wine i made. I know, farthest thing from rare, but just try to process enough of the flowers to make 4 gallons! 4 was enough, using 5gal carboys. Sweetest I've made so far as well.
@@dankline9162 Made Dandelion wine once. It was good, but oh the work of removing the green from the base of the flowers! Never made a second batch. If I succeed in growing Mayapple in cages, I'll be making jam again.
@@juhghg3732 let’s say you’re 90 years old and did something when you were 20. That’s enough time for someone to live a whole 70 year life and die inbetween now and when you did that thing. It’s not a literal expression of him doing in it another life.
The most deceptive poisonous fruit I know of locally is the berries of the Yew shrub. The berry is very pretty, and it is lovely to taste, but if you swallow the single seed inside it, it will likely stop your heart.
@@notmyworld44 I ate as many of those as I could as a kid lul. Didn't know they were poisonous but I must not have eaten the seeds since I didn't get sick
Yay! Let's get more North American native fruits on here. I know there are a couple annona relatives (besides paw paw) in the southern US, as well as other tree fruits, and we have a lot of berries too.
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex I'm intrigued: is that another word for a maypop (passiflora), another word for the mayapple, or a tree fruit I just haven't heard of?
I used to see the plants in Illinois woodlands on walls and hikes, including in Allerton Park. I’ve seen them in bloom but I don’t recall having seen a fruit.
Ok Although I live in MA now, I grew up in Orange, NJ. Across the Hudson from you is public parkland run by Essex County. It's called South Mountain Reservation, and.a section of the park is called Mayapple Hill. You'll never guess what grows there. I foraged all over that park with my grandmother when I was a kid. Btw, I suggested once that you try to taste Roxbury Russet apples, tasty brown beauties.
I have always wondered what these tasted like, but to my knowledge they don't grow in Oregon. I hope it's not too weird I'm living vicariously through you right now.
I have mayapple plants all over the nature trail I visit often. I've never seen their fruit, though. I'll have to pay closer attention. I don't plan on trying it, just because there is so much that could go wrong, but it's neat to learn about plants I see around me. I just checked Google, and it seems that you are right, they are mostly an eastern US plant. But, you have plants in the PNW that I'd love to check out, too. :)
If you want to get into native, free-growing fruits, do a video on the Juneberry, (Amelancheir spp), also known as Shadbush, Saskatoons, and Serviceberry. They are delicious, can be found being grown as ornamental trees, and the berries should start ripening soon - skip the still-ripening red berries and go for the ones which have become a dark purple.
I have been eating them all my life (66 years) and fight the forest animals for them always. Eating the skin and seeds have never effected me, of course I usually only eat 1 or 2 at a time. We have several patches here on our Michigan property and I think I may try to ripen some indoors this year. My love for the Mayapple began with growing up in rural West Virginia. Thanks for the video.
I've watched hundreds of videos from Jared, and finally he gets around to reviewing the fruit growing behind my house. I've heard you could eat them, but I'd never had the nerve to try. I'll have to watch and see if the squirrels leave any. (The squirrels are busy eating cicadas this year, so maybe this will be the best chance!)
@@rust3152 I know they're technically edible, and if you catch them before they harden they're just land shrimp. But I enjoy them too much to want to eat them. There were about a hundred of them at my office this morning, and they make me smile.
Excellent! You got a really weird one. Podophyllum is very important on pharmacopeia. The toxin podophyllin is used to treat warts, it burns the tissue in a special way and also may kill some viruses causing warts.
There's a bunch of these growing at a lake by my house, I looked them up and was disappointed to hear that they have a while to ripen. Another fruit that is growing right around them that would be cool to see you review is the missouri gooseberry, they're called gooseberries, look like grapes, and are actually related to currants
OMG ive been waiting for you to do this one for so long! I check for these every time i go walking through the forest when they are in season, The squirrels always beat me to it!
You can pick these when underripe and put them in a basket in a warm room and they'll ripen. It's important they aren't in a bowl or bag, they need good air circulation. I also ate the white fluffy-pithy part under the skin, and it was pleasant, milder than the gooey part. :)
Im in the middle of Milwaukee. There are big mayapple stands everywhere! Every park has a ton of them, and I've planted a few myself just because it's such a cool plant. Hopefully I get to try one this year
I live where it is native. The plants are pretty. It produces one flower and one fruit. The flowers are pretty. Worth growing just for that. The plant has a long root that several of the plants grow from. I grew some in the flower bed by the pool where I used to live. I know where there is a lot of them growing near where I live now. Some have one leaf, some two. Only the plants with two leaves produce fruit.
Maybe we could do to these what we did to a lot of the solanaceae plants and breed them with lower concentrations of the offending compounds in the fruit so that they could be eaten whole once ripe without the risk of gastrointestinal side effects. Once they were easier to eat, it would only be a matter of time before people started developing more cultivars.
@@cristiaolson7327 one patch 6x6 might produce 1 fruit and it really isn't that tasty. it used to be bought by herb dealers decades ago. i am sure i sold over a thousand pounds of the dried roots in 60's-70's.
I have these growing all over my land and I love them.....in moderation. It's odd that you get a sour flavor to them because when they are ripe on the plant they remind me of a banana in flavor and texture. But I also grew up with that thought in mind from my dad so my reference may be askewed. But if you ever want to come to Tennessee I have thousands of therm growing around my home.
My dad used to eat some berries called Manzanita berries and you make a cider out of them. You can eat them raw as well. They sell packs of those berries in his home state of Zacatecas Mexico. But the berries grow in the United States as well like in the sierras and in big bear and Idyllwild. You have to eat the little ones tho the big ones have a big seed in them that doesn’t have any fruit in it. I also tried a wild cherry called a holly leaf cherry native to California and it tastes like sugarcane
My dad introduced me to these when I was a kid. He called them Mana. It does seem like the critters get them when they're ripe pretty quickly. I've only ever managed to find one ripe one, and I see them all the time. I was pretty young when I had it, but it's definitely got a great tropical flavor. Looking forward to having again some other time.
I ate a lot of these as a kid growing up in rural West Virginia. Fruit ripened around the first of August. One of my favorite wild fruits. As an adult, I make mayapple marmalade which is absolutely delicious.
I’m a huge huge fan of this fruit. I have only tasted one while working with the horticulture team at the Queens Botanical Garden. The most amazing taste of funky ripe pineapple and guava
How do you know when it is safe to eat? Can you pick an unripe or partially ripe one and let it ripen off the vine to make it safe? Have you ever had a bad reaction from this fruit? Do you eat the seeds? Sorry for the barrage of questions. I have seen this fruit before but never had the never to eat it :)
@@rugvedkulkarni1593 we let them ripen on the plant for a really long time before we eventually pulled just a couple to sample. There were about 6 plants which barely provided many fruits. They thrive in the cooler shadier spots low to the ground and the squirrels went crazy over them. Most of the fruits were nabbed by squirrels before they were even ripe but we luckily had like 2-3 survive long enough to ripen
@@rugvedkulkarni1593 the fruits were ripe when yellow and soft and even a little brown. You can smell the floral juicy-fruit smell from 5 yards away when it’s ripe. I didn’t know the seeds weren’t edible so I think I swallowed them with no consequences. I’m not suggesting that they’re safe though, I am not sure
I just found one of these the other day when hiking with my kids in Pennsylvania. It's smell reminded me of the small yellow guava I used to get in Peru from a tree growing in my yard. I looked up and didn't see a tree so I was confused. Now that I saw this video I remember the odd looking plants. I only pulled it open and smelled it. It smelled good, like a guava as I said, but I never eat anything unless I'm 100 percent sure what it is. It was definitely ripe. Thanks for the video! It came right on time!
We have a ton of them on our place but I very rarely get a chance to eat one because the critters almost always beat me to them. They're eaten fairly commonly around here and I've never personally heard of anyone getting sick from them. I can remember my mom making mayapple lemonade a few times as a kid and loving it.
My grandfather took me into the woods in Western Pennsylvania and showed me the May Apple. I'll never forget it. One of my best memories. We just always sucked the contents out. Seeds and all.
I am from Cherokee North Carolina from the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians we have mayapples everywhere here we use them for medicine and Crow repellent
my property on the border of Indiana/ Michigan backs up to a river and we have an island FULL of these. The fruits just started growing in the last week
@@tanyawales5445 I.e. if true, it can be (and probably has been) used as a natural abortifacient, and should probably be avoided by women who wish to stay pregnant, just like cinnamon supplements.
In southern Indiana mayapples cover the forest and shaded areas. I’ve seen thousands of these. I used to incorporate these into shaded areas of landscape around my home for their beautiful foliage.
Hit any woodland in central Ohio , they grow everywhere. Especially where Morels grow and the leaves can hide morels very well. Have you ever had Mayhaws? Delicious in jelly, raw they are tart like cranberries.
I just found three ripe ones, in our woods, in lower half of the michigan mittens. Normally I can get any from the thousands of plants on our property. Going to enjoy these right now!
It's like a Maypop! They have the most unususl leaf shape, too. We used to find them mostly at the edges of dirt roads, the same kind of place you find wild plums. I've only seen the flower a couple of times, it's spectacular and like no other plant, wide and purple. People make jam of this down South.
I have a huge patch of these in my north yard. Probably a hundred of them. They just started a few years ago. I tried them last year and they were pretty good.
I have a cousin who actually makes a Mayapple jam. It is seriously the best jam I have ever had. Every time I go over there I ask if she has any but she generally only has enough raw Mayapple to make one jar per year.
I know of a large patch and I've been meaning to try out the fruit but of course I manage to forget until it's too late. I didn't realize the fruit were this big. Glad to hear it tastes quite good!
I've been trying to get ahold of one of these for years. Unfortunately, I'm not quite close enough to protect them, and one human versus a forest of squirrels and deer is a losing battle. I'm really glad to see it on your channel.
Have you tried wild european strawberries, european blueberries and yew yet? Both fruits are smaller than the American cultivars/hybrids, but I'd personally say that their taste more than makes up for it. The strawberry is less sweet and sour with a stronger perfume like aroma for example. The blueberries are also better than the American ones in my opinion, more flavor. They will also stain your mouth red, from what I heard they were actually used for dying fabrics in the past. The yew on the other hand isn't too great. Not a lot of flavor with a sticky syrupy juice, also the red arillus covering the seed is the only edible and non-toxic part of the tree.
I live in the Arkansas Ozarks, and every spring in about April these plants emerge prolifically under cover of our hardwood forest canopies and blossom. (We can trust that at the same time the Morel mushrooms will begin appearing.) In my 38 years of living in Arkansas I have found only ONE fully ripe yellow fruit on a May-Apple plant. I joyfully picked that one and consumed it WHOLE on location, after which I experienced NO ill effect whatsoever. Each May-Apple plant produces only two leaves, between which should appear only ONE flower which may or may not be followed by a fruit. The ripe fruit are extremely rare to the human forager because of opportunistic predation by squirrels and other small animals.
I’ve had them before in NC, it grows on my property, but yes wild animals will get them first. My grandma used to keep them in a dish to allow them to ripen/age. We call them maypops, another hard one to get are pawpaws.
I've had the unripe fruit, and while I don't under any circumstances recommend it, I can say that it has a certain "offness" to it similar to eating raw potatoe. Grainy, starchy, slightly astringent. All that to say that if it's not ready, it doesn't taste ready.
where I grew up in Indiana has a whole bunch of mayapple, and paw paw as well. I have never been able to find a ripe fruit on a wild mayapple. You can find signs for them at most parks where I grew up. Here recently I came across some wild Golden Currant here in Colorado.
I’ve encountered some mayapple plants in a creek bottomland in eastern Kansas, so at the western edge of its range. I think I remember seeing a ripe/overripe fruit on at least one plant in mid-late July
We have these in our neighborhood. Everywhere their us big trees with shade. These grow underneath and Our neighbors Actually leave them to fruit. They only last about about a day or two before squirrels get them. They're a delicacy to them lol. And they know exactly when they're ripe too which is crazy. The entire plant usually only has one leaf coming about a foot off the ground and when fruiting one singular stem comes off and holds the fruit. That's why they're so rare.
I forage for morels, ramps, and fiddleheads this time of year. I have been looking for May apples for about 15 years... Out of tens of thousands of plants, I've never seen a ripe May apple
This is awesome.
Take them green, they ripen!
Same here, I have seen thousands of plants but never a ripe May apple
My husband and I found our first morel just this year and I’ve been foraging for a long time. Oh my gosh, they’re the best mushroom I’ve ever had in my life. I can see why people don’t give away their secret spots!! This is my first time hearing of may apples!!
@@MermaidMakes congrats!!! There is no greater joy than finding your own morel spot. Wait until you start dreaming about morels! When you have a great year and spend hours hunting, the morel dreams start to happen. I've never had a better rush than finding patches of morels, chanterelles, and trumpet mushrooms. Dry out the morels if you have enough, their flavor intensifies when dried.
Same!!
Ive known about this stuff for forever, since ive always liked plants and learning about wild edibles. But, ive only in recent years gone after the things you mention. Never tried a mayapple, but I have seen them ripe, in NY state, in August, when the leaves are fading. Just tried fiddleheads this year, surprisingly tasty, tho I made mush. I knew of a few little colonies of ramps, but last weekend a friend showed me a new place that was ramp paradise, with little new ones growing as well!
As for morels, I've only found a single one, idk why. I need to go out further than parks to find a good patch of those.
I really like your getting to try fruits that are native to North America. There are lots of them, but so few that we know how to eat! Thanks, Jared!
i see these all the time and i had no clue, absolutely no clue, these were edible.
They bloom in May. My mother used to make mayapple marmalade. We picked and ate them raw as well. You had to wait until they were soft, and they'd get a faint lemony aroma. We would eat the entire fruit, skin, seeds and all.
I forage for these every year. I make marmalade and jelly from them and eat them raw. I make cold drinks and Mayapple fizzies from them. Easily one of my favorite wild fruits. I am always careful because the unripe ones can cause some seriously unwanted effects. I am the founder of the Midwest Wild Edibles & Foragers Society, and I do lectures all around, but rarely chat about this little gem.
I do avoid the seeds and skin when eating ripe. They are super nasty for your insides. If you want a tip on keeping animals away from your patch, if you're a male, pee around the circumference every time you have to go. Have the dog pee around the patch. Animals stay away from the patch.
@@NerveSalad That’s actually really clever, never would have thought of that
Definitely want to learn more about this from ohio grew up in the woods never knew you would eat them
That's really cool! I'm gonna have to find similar groups in western NY!
Sir how do I leant how to forage?
Love that you're celebrating rare fruits native to your own country
WHo cares
I think it's rather nice because speaking as an American there hasn't been much if any public education about foods that can be foraged at least not in a long time
not rare one of the more common woods herbs
The confusion around the name "mandrake" made these really fascinating plants for pre-goth children in small towns back in the 60s, before we had an internet to look them up on. I bet I'm not the only kid who pulled them up to see if the roots would scream.
I did it too....risking madness since i did not have a black dog to pull it up for me. I figured the lack of scream and the disappointing shape of the root was due to not finding it beneath a gallows tree.
@@juhghg3732 look up mandrake before asking silly questions or judging.
@@gu244 he is a weirdo though
@@gu244 But...but that would require effort! It would mean learning something--brrrrr, perish the thought. And worst of all, it might interfere with the inclination to dish out mean-spirited snark to complete strangers. Can't have that sort of improvement going on everywhere, now can we?
Sounds too familiar, from the '80s!
these things grew in bunches on my grandmothers land. I remember needing to get my stomach pumped as a child because I ate an unripe one. I thought these were common, they're really common in my state. we called them "gopher gourds" because gophers and groundhogs absolutely love them.
Did it taste good unripe? I'm guessing gophers are immune to the poison
Really common around here, too. I have never tried one because a neighbor scared me off when I was young with horrifying tales of MANDRAKE. He was thinking of Mandragora, lol. I even dug it up to hear the roots scream...alas, Podophyllum is mute.
What a good memory from gramma's.
I’ll gladly leave them for the gophers and groundhogs
@@anne-droid7739 It is a common plant. In situations that it finds ideal, it is abundant.
Seen these a million times in Ohio could never find a ripe one
I see these everywhere in the Ohio woods, always wondered what they were. I love their leaves.
Same!
Darned squirrels!
Animals get them first.
Sounds like a fun taste
Your description of the flavor is spot on. The most difficult thing is finding them when they're perfectly ripe. I'm considering growing a patch in a cage to keep the critters out. Heck, deer eat everything in my woods. The understory is pretty well nonexistent. I did once gather enough that a friend and I made some delicious jam. That was in another state, and another lifetime though.
That sounds like some really special jam!! For good company only! Similar to the dandelion wine i made. I know, farthest thing from rare, but just try to process enough of the flowers to make 4 gallons! 4 was enough, using 5gal carboys. Sweetest I've made so far as well.
@@dankline9162 Made Dandelion wine once. It was good, but oh the work of removing the green from the base of the flowers! Never made a second batch. If I succeed in growing Mayapple in cages, I'll be making jam again.
@@juhghg3732 It's an expression
@@juhghg3732 lol maybe he reincarnated
@@juhghg3732 let’s say you’re 90 years old and did something when you were 20. That’s enough time for someone to live a whole 70 year life and die inbetween now and when you did that thing. It’s not a literal expression of him doing in it another life.
“They don’t fruit in May”
*puts out video in late May*
Mid may at that
I thought it was weird no one seemed to notice, then I saw your comment. I knew I couldn't be the only one, nice catch!
He may have filmed this months ago. Sometimes it takes him quite a while to get around to editing an episode and posting it.
@@censusgary Fair enough! 👍
Jerk fruits: I'm poisonous, don't eat me!
Also Jerk fruits: I am delicious.
The most deceptive poisonous fruit I know of locally is the berries of the Yew shrub. The berry is very pretty, and it is lovely to taste, but if you swallow the single seed inside it, it will likely stop your heart.
@@notmyworld44 I ate as many of those as I could as a kid lul. Didn't know they were poisonous but I must not have eaten the seeds since I didn't get sick
@@omnacky Yep, they're sure tasty!
Yay! Let's get more North American native fruits on here.
I know there are a couple annona relatives (besides paw paw) in the southern US, as well as other tree fruits, and we have a lot of berries too.
Yeah, Mayhaws!
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex I'm intrigued: is that another word for a maypop (passiflora), another word for the mayapple, or a tree fruit I just haven't heard of?
I used to see the plants in Illinois woodlands on walls and hikes, including in Allerton Park. I’ve seen them in bloom but I don’t recall having seen a fruit.
Ok Although I live in MA now, I grew up in Orange, NJ. Across the Hudson from you is public parkland run by Essex County. It's called South Mountain Reservation, and.a section of the park is called Mayapple Hill. You'll never guess what grows there. I foraged all over that park with my grandmother when I was a kid.
Btw, I suggested once that you try to taste Roxbury Russet apples, tasty brown beauties.
I have always wondered what these tasted like, but to my knowledge they don't grow in Oregon. I hope it's not too weird I'm living vicariously through you right now.
That's the whole point of this series and TH-cam in general.
Not weird at all.
I have mayapple plants all over the nature trail I visit often. I've never seen their fruit, though. I'll have to pay closer attention. I don't plan on trying it, just because there is so much that could go wrong, but it's neat to learn about plants I see around me.
I just checked Google, and it seems that you are right, they are mostly an eastern US plant. But, you have plants in the PNW that I'd love to check out, too. :)
Damn, I haven’t checked the subscriber count in a couple years. You’re already at 200k+, congrats!! I know you’ll be hitting a million soon.
Wow..I thought he’s already over 1m. I’m a bit disappointed with youtube.
Always saw these top down so thought it was just a leafy plant. When I got a side view and saw the flowers my mind was blown!
I really feel like asking "is this bergamont?" just to mess with you lol. I loved your "this is not bergamont" rant.
If you want to get into native, free-growing fruits, do a video on the Juneberry, (Amelancheir spp), also known as Shadbush, Saskatoons, and Serviceberry. They are delicious, can be found being grown as ornamental trees, and the berries should start ripening soon - skip the still-ripening red berries and go for the ones which have become a dark purple.
I have so many of these on my property! So glad to see this!
Literally waited years for this, I considered shipping one to you!
I have been eating them all my life (66 years) and fight the forest animals for them always. Eating the skin and seeds have never effected me, of course I usually only eat 1 or 2 at a time. We have several patches here on our Michigan property and I think I may try to ripen some indoors this year. My love for the Mayapple began with growing up in rural West Virginia. Thanks for the video.
I've always thought they taste like pineapple Lifesavers.
Those are good!
I've watched hundreds of videos from Jared, and finally he gets around to reviewing the fruit growing behind my house. I've heard you could eat them, but I'd never had the nerve to try. I'll have to watch and see if the squirrels leave any. (The squirrels are busy eating cicadas this year, so maybe this will be the best chance!)
you eat the cicadas too
@@rust3152 I know they're technically edible, and if you catch them before they harden they're just land shrimp. But I enjoy them too much to want to eat them. There were about a hundred of them at my office this morning, and they make me smile.
Or you can eat the squirrel after it ate the fruit
@@DianeGraft
Awww
They always remind me of the hottest days of summer.
@@sunnylifecrochet They taste like mayapples and cicadas mixed
Excellent! You got a really weird one.
Podophyllum is very important on pharmacopeia. The toxin podophyllin is used to treat warts, it burns the tissue in a special way and also may kill some viruses causing warts.
I love the way he describes the taste. Using common fruits as reference making it really easy to relate to the experience. 😁
There's a bunch of these growing at a lake by my house, I looked them up and was disappointed to hear that they have a while to ripen. Another fruit that is growing right around them that would be cool to see you review is the missouri gooseberry, they're called gooseberries, look like grapes, and are actually related to currants
Congrats on finally getting one!
Ohioan also. Very familiar. A very valued Mushroom seems to inhabit the same habitat.
I ate one years ago and the crazy thing was delicious. I never saw another ripe one again because the stinking squirrels love em.
I bought some mayapple jelly once at an Appalachian festival and it was AMAZING!
OMG ive been waiting for you to do this one for so long! I check for these every time i go walking through the forest when they are in season, The squirrels always beat me to it!
You can pick these when underripe and put them in a basket in a warm room and they'll ripen. It's important they aren't in a bowl or bag, they need good air circulation.
I also ate the white fluffy-pithy part under the skin, and it was pleasant, milder than the gooey part. :)
Im in the middle of Milwaukee. There are big mayapple stands everywhere! Every park has a ton of them, and I've planted a few myself just because it's such a cool plant. Hopefully I get to try one this year
I live where it is native. The plants are pretty. It produces one flower and one fruit. The flowers are pretty. Worth growing just for that. The plant has a long root that several of the plants grow from. I grew some in the flower bed by the pool where I used to live. I know where there is a lot of them growing near where I live now. Some have one leaf, some two. Only the plants with two leaves produce fruit.
I've had these in jam form. They grow native where I was born and would be full bloom during the morel hunting season!
They're fruiting in my woods right now in may. The name is accurate for my region. Now it might not be ripe until June so you're right there
I wonder if they can be selectively bred into a larger fruiting variant
Maybe we could do to these what we did to a lot of the solanaceae plants and breed them with lower concentrations of the offending compounds in the fruit so that they could be eaten whole once ripe without the risk of gastrointestinal side effects. Once they were easier to eat, it would only be a matter of time before people started developing more cultivars.
@@cristiaolson7327 one patch 6x6 might produce 1 fruit and it really isn't that tasty. it used to be bought by herb dealers decades ago. i am sure i sold over a thousand pounds of the dried roots in 60's-70's.
@@victorhopper6774
what use are the dried roots?
@@GreenCanvasInteriorscape don't know i just cleaned, dried, and shipped 70 pound boxes of them when i was a teenager. lot of roots in a patch.
Have you tried Guineps. Very popular in Jamaica......Okay guess you have!
These legit grow everywhere near my house in central Maryland
They grew every year when I was a kid. I could never get a ripe one. The flowers smell sooooooo good.
I’ve been checking these plants for the last couple years and haven’t found a single fruit haha, you beat me to it :p
Growing up in rural Southwestern Pa, it was always exciting to come across a May apple-they are delicious.
Here where I live they grow in the Grove of hundreds. I have never tried them, and I do believe the deer love them.
Literally had these on my horticulture final they’re everywhere in Missouri
I have these growing all over my land and I love them.....in moderation. It's odd that you get a sour flavor to them because when they are ripe on the plant they remind me of a banana in flavor and texture. But I also grew up with that thought in mind from my dad so my reference may be askewed. But if you ever want to come to Tennessee I have thousands of therm growing around my home.
Lucky you! They are so lovely when in bloom.
I knew about these. Some herbaceous plant with weird leaves and flowers growing in forests,
These grow almost like weeds all over my yard. Actually a nice ground cover, nice flower.
My dad used to eat some berries called Manzanita berries and you make a cider out of them. You can eat them raw as well. They sell packs of those berries in his home state of Zacatecas Mexico. But the berries grow in the United States as well like in the sierras and in big bear and Idyllwild. You have to eat the little ones tho the big ones have a big seed in them that doesn’t have any fruit in it. I also tried a wild cherry called a holly leaf cherry native to California and it tastes like sugarcane
You should look into those fruits
I see these all the time! They're a lovely woodland plant, and excellent ground cover for shade.
My dad introduced me to these when I was a kid. He called them Mana. It does seem like the critters get them when they're ripe pretty quickly. I've only ever managed to find one ripe one, and I see them all the time. I was pretty young when I had it, but it's definitely got a great tropical flavor. Looking forward to having again some other time.
I ate a lot of these as a kid growing up in rural West Virginia. Fruit ripened around the first of August. One of my favorite wild fruits. As an adult, I make mayapple marmalade which is absolutely delicious.
I’m a huge huge fan of this fruit. I have only tasted one while working with the horticulture team at the Queens Botanical Garden. The most amazing taste of funky ripe pineapple and guava
I haven’t even watched your review of it yet I hope you like it!
Edit: I like your comparison to passionfruit
How do you know when it is safe to eat? Can you pick an unripe or partially ripe one and let it ripen off the vine to make it safe? Have you ever had a bad reaction from this fruit? Do you eat the seeds? Sorry for the barrage of questions. I have seen this fruit before but never had the never to eat it :)
@@rugvedkulkarni1593 we let them ripen on the plant for a really long time before we eventually pulled just a couple to sample. There were about 6 plants which barely provided many fruits. They thrive in the cooler shadier spots low to the ground and the squirrels went crazy over them. Most of the fruits were nabbed by squirrels before they were even ripe but we luckily had like 2-3 survive long enough to ripen
@@rugvedkulkarni1593 the fruits were ripe when yellow and soft and even a little brown. You can smell the floral juicy-fruit smell from 5 yards away when it’s ripe. I didn’t know the seeds weren’t edible so I think I swallowed them with no consequences. I’m not suggesting that they’re safe though, I am not sure
I just found one of these the other day when hiking with my kids in Pennsylvania. It's smell reminded me of the small yellow guava I used to get in Peru from a tree growing in my yard. I looked up and didn't see a tree so I was confused. Now that I saw this video I remember the odd looking plants. I only pulled it open and smelled it. It smelled good, like a guava as I said, but I never eat anything unless I'm 100 percent sure what it is. It was definitely ripe. Thanks for the video! It came right on time!
This is really interesting because i've seen those growing all over the northeast.
We have a ton of them on our place but I very rarely get a chance to eat one because the critters almost always beat me to them. They're eaten fairly commonly around here and I've never personally heard of anyone getting sick from them. I can remember my mom making mayapple lemonade a few times as a kid and loving it.
I love mayapple! I look for them every year when I'm out mushroom hunting and foraging! Love that you did a video on them
When they’re in full bloom, they make the surrounding area smell of fresh sliced apples
My grandfather took me into the woods in Western Pennsylvania and showed me the May Apple. I'll never forget it. One of my best memories. We just always sucked the contents out. Seeds and all.
Thank you so much for making this video! Always have wanted to try a may apple.
I am from Cherokee North Carolina from the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians we have mayapples everywhere here we use them for medicine and Crow repellent
Okay okay. That's all nice information... but is it bergamot?
I see these all over near me and was thinking about looking up what it is, but now I know thanks. And nice vids man getting better every time.
I have seen many patches of these in Southern Ontario. My mother used to make marmalade out of them in the 70s.
I have been waiting for this ep forever!
I love the way these plants look. Maybe I'lll grow a patch.
We get them in my area, my mom actually had some in our garden for a bit when I was a child but I never knew you could eat the fruit.
my property on the border of Indiana/ Michigan backs up to a river and we have an island FULL of these. The fruits just started growing in the last week
Because of this channel i know there is lots of fruit that i dont know. Thanks mate.
Once upon a time I was told that mayapples cause uterine contractions and I was never brave enough to put that to the test.
ah...if only they caused cellulite contraction!
The mayapple plant is 100% poisonous except for the ripe fruit. Who would want to risk getting cramps?
@@tanyawales5445 I.e. if true, it can be (and probably has been) used as a natural abortifacient, and should probably be avoided by women who wish to stay pregnant, just like cinnamon supplements.
@@honeybadgerisme nothing wrong with some cellulite, in fact it's kind of sexy
Got a bunch of these growing. I'll keep a lookout for fruit. BTW, I believe it flowers in May.
In southern Indiana mayapples cover the forest and shaded areas. I’ve seen thousands of these. I used to incorporate these into shaded areas of landscape around my home for their beautiful foliage.
Hit any woodland in central Ohio , they grow everywhere.
Especially where Morels grow and the leaves can hide morels very well.
Have you ever had Mayhaws? Delicious in jelly, raw they are tart like cranberries.
I love your mission and I wish you the best! Thank you for the awesome content!
Woah I'm so excited! This thing is legendary!
I just found three ripe ones, in our woods, in lower half of the michigan mittens. Normally I can get any from the thousands of plants on our property. Going to enjoy these right now!
It's like a Maypop! They have the most unususl leaf shape, too. We used to find them mostly at the edges of dirt roads, the same kind of place you find wild plums. I've only seen the flower a couple of times, it's spectacular and like no other plant, wide and purple. People make jam of this down South.
I have a huge patch of these in my north yard. Probably a hundred of them. They just started a few years ago. I tried them last year and they were pretty good.
I have 2 huge patches of these growing on my property in East Tennessee.
I have a cousin who actually makes a Mayapple jam. It is seriously the best jam I have ever had. Every time I go over there I ask if she has any but she generally only has enough raw Mayapple to make one jar per year.
I've never been so early to a video ever.
me neither
Same mate
How does it feel?
I know of a large patch and I've been meaning to try out the fruit but of course I manage to forget until it's too late. I didn't realize the fruit were this big. Glad to hear it tastes quite good!
I've been trying to get ahold of one of these for years. Unfortunately, I'm not quite close enough to protect them, and one human versus a forest of squirrels and deer is a losing battle. I'm really glad to see it on your channel.
the best things in life come with a little risk 😆
That sounds a little crazy. The best things in life are free actually!
@@gaywizard2000 the best things in life are both risky AND free :D
i wish i had known you wanted one of these, i have hundreds of these plants in my yard and was always told you couldnt eat them.....
Have you tried wild european strawberries, european blueberries and yew yet?
Both fruits are smaller than the American cultivars/hybrids, but I'd personally say that their taste more than makes up for it.
The strawberry is less sweet and sour with a stronger perfume like aroma for example.
The blueberries are also better than the American ones in my opinion, more flavor.
They will also stain your mouth red, from what I heard they were actually used for dying fabrics in the past.
The yew on the other hand isn't too great.
Not a lot of flavor with a sticky syrupy juice, also the red arillus covering the seed is the only edible and non-toxic part of the tree.
I live in the Arkansas Ozarks, and every spring in about April these plants emerge prolifically under cover of our hardwood forest canopies and blossom. (We can trust that at the same time the Morel mushrooms will begin appearing.) In my 38 years of living in Arkansas I have found only ONE fully ripe yellow fruit on a May-Apple plant. I joyfully picked that one and consumed it WHOLE on location, after which I experienced NO ill effect whatsoever. Each May-Apple plant produces only two leaves, between which should appear only ONE flower which may or may not be followed by a fruit. The ripe fruit are extremely rare to the human forager because of opportunistic predation by squirrels and other small animals.
I’ve had them before in NC, it grows on my property, but yes wild animals will get them first. My grandma used to keep them in a dish to allow them to ripen/age. We call them maypops, another hard one to get are pawpaws.
Names of this thing are really funny ngl considering.
They have one leaf the 1st year, two the 2nd year. The fruit grows between the 2 leaves.
I used to see those umbrella plants everywhere in NW PA. I had no idea it had edible fruit!
I've had the unripe fruit, and while I don't under any circumstances recommend it, I can say that it has a certain "offness" to it similar to eating raw potatoe. Grainy, starchy, slightly astringent. All that to say that if it's not ready, it doesn't taste ready.
I've wanted to eat a mayapple for sooo long ❤️ This year's gonna be my year
These grow on a nature trail I used to work on in Western NY. We were always too afraid to try them.
where I grew up in Indiana has a whole bunch of mayapple, and paw paw as well. I have never been able to find a ripe fruit on a wild mayapple. You can find signs for them at most parks where I grew up. Here recently I came across some wild Golden Currant here in Colorado.
I’ve encountered some mayapple plants in a creek bottomland in eastern Kansas, so at the western edge of its range. I think I remember seeing a ripe/overripe fruit on at least one plant in mid-late July
I have a lot of these on my property. Never knew what they were. Five acres of woods in Virginia and they're everywhere.
Oh wow! I have hundreds of these plants growing along the edges of the woods here. I had no idea the fruit was edible at all!
We have these in our neighborhood. Everywhere their us big trees with shade. These grow underneath and Our neighbors Actually leave them to fruit. They only last about about a day or two before squirrels get them. They're a delicacy to them lol. And they know exactly when they're ripe too which is crazy.
The entire plant usually only has one leaf coming about a foot off the ground and when fruiting one singular stem comes off and holds the fruit. That's why they're so rare.
Growing up rural we were taught to avoid them altogether. Had no idea you could eat them at all.