Juneberry/serviceberry (Amelan-chier) has been used in landscapes for ornamental value but the fruit is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Your customer may be looking for an easy-to-care-for fruit tree and a good suggestion would be Amelanchier. Jerry Faulring, owner of Waverly Farm recently called and mentioned how good tasting the berries were on the Amelanchier alnifolia. I stopped by his nursery in Frederick and tried some of the fruit. The fruit is borne in small clusters and are about the size of large blueberries. To me it tasted like a cross between a blueberry and a sweet apple. Jerry had two different cultivars at his nursery and while the one tasted like a blueberry-apple cross the other tasted like a sweet apple. Generally, this fruit is not found in the marketplace because it is soft and does not keep well for shipping. It well is suited for local markets or home backyard fruit production.
There are two serious issues with developing this as a commercial fruit: 1) the season is short (about 2 weeks) 2) the berries keep poorly.
While giving a talk in Oregon, I had the opportunity to eat lunch with an owner of a small pick-your-own orchard. During our lunchtime conversation he mentioned he had a Saskatoon orchard in Portland. I was not familiar with this name but when he mentioned that it was Amelanchier alnifolia, I did recognize this Latin name. The West Coast Indians call the fruit Saskatoon. In western Canada there is region that is also called Saskatoon. The name serviceberry comes from the similarity of the fruit to the related European Service Tree, Sorbus domestica, a name that in turn is derived via the French “sorbier” from the Latin name for the tree, “sorbus,” recorded by Pliny the Elder. A widespread folk etymology states that plant’s flowering time signaled to early American pioneers that the ground had thawed enough in spring for the burial of the winter’s dead. It also signaled the end of winter and a time when the traveling ministers would be coming up to the mountain towns.
The name Amelanchier is derived from the French name “amelanche” of the European serviceberry. The city name of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan comes from a Cree Indian name “misaaskwatoomin” for the Juneberry.
Anyhow, back to the orchard owner. This person ran a 7-acre orchard of Saskatoons and his main customers were Native Americans. He told me they ate them fresh, used them in baked goods and used them for medical purposes. Evidently the Indians mix the Saskatoon fruit with dried meats and other ingredients to make an Indian version of an Energy Bar.
The Indian also use the plant for medical purposes, but usually using the bark and roots rather than the berries. Its medicinal uses are listed for anthelmintic; disinfectant; and women’s complaints. I don’t think they mean complaining women.
A tea made from the root bark (mixed with other unspecified herbs) is used as a tonic in the treatment of excessive menstrual bleeding and also to treat diarrhea. A bath of the bark tea was used on children with worms but I am not sure if they are talking about nematode worms or other worms. An infusion of the root was used to prevent miscarriage after an injury. A compound concoction of the inner bark is used as a disinfectant wash. Wow! This is a multiple-use plant but I would suggest concentrating on the fruit flavor and its usefulness in the home fruit production landscape.
The fruit contains a few small seeds at the center. It can be eaten out of hand, used in pies or preserves or dried and used like raisins. When the fruit is thoroughly cooked in puddings or pies the seed imparts an almond flavor to the food. The fruit is rich in iron and copper.
Personally, I think the flavor is excellent and it has real potential for an easy-to-care-for fruit tree to place into your customer’s landscape. My wife is a pretty good baker and she is going to try making a pie using the fruit. According to all reports it should taste like a blueberry pie. Each cultivar has slightly different taste just as different varieties of blueberries or apples have distinct taste. This might lend itself to a cool grower SARE grant to evaluate the different Amelanchier varieties. Any takers on this grant idea?
There may also be different tolerances to disease pressure. Jerry had not sprayed his trees and they looked great but Amelanchier can have some problems with rust.
Amelanchier has more than 25 different species with different sizes, growing patterns, and fruit flavors. Also some varieties have better fruit than others. In the United States, Amelanchier is almost never grown for fruit (a pity); the same with development efforts that stress landscape plants. Landscape plants tend to flower and fruit prolifically but the fruits are a bit insipid compared to other varieties (I still will eat and enjoy the fruits from landscape plants!)
Amelanchier is a pretty easy plant to grow and it prefers a rich loamy soil and thrives in any soil that is not too dry or water-logged. The largest yields and best quality fruits, are produced when the plant is grown in a sunny position, although it should also do reasonably well in semi-shade. The plants are fairly lime tolerant and they will also grow well in heavy clay soils. They are very cold-hardy and will tolerate temperatures down to at least –20 degress C. and probably much lower.
Peaches, apple, plum and cherry trees may be tempting for your customers to plant in their yard but there are so many insects and diseases that reduce the quality, why not plant something that they don’t have to spray regularly and still obtain a useable crop of fruit?