North America has over 20 types of unusual berries, not including strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cranberries. Some readily available types include black currant, dewberry, and elderberry. Many are artificial crosses created for faster growth or larger size. Some, like mulberries and saskatoons, are hard to find commercially.
You might be surprised to know that there are over 20 different types of unusual berries in North America alone. That doesn’t include many fruits that have the name “berry” but don’t actually belong to the same family, as is the case with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cranberries. These four fruits, which are sometimes considered to be part of the unusual berry group, are actually aggregate fruits.
Some unusual berry types that are readily available include black current, which is often used in canning; the dewberry, which is similar to the blackberry, except smaller; and elderberries, popular in the production of wines and jams.
Many unusual berries available on the market are actually artificial crosses created to have faster growth, greater weather resistance, or larger size. This is the case with the Boysenberry, created to be soft in flavor and seedless; boysenberries are a cross between loganberries, raspberries and blackberries. Olallieberries are unusual berries that resulted from a cross between loganberries and youngberries, itself an artificial berry.
Gooseberries are another example of an unusual berry, with the added feature that American gooseberries are extremely different from European gooseberries in terms of size, flavor (sour vs sweet), and format. Blueberries are unusual berries that grow in cold weather and only in certain countries of the world. They are popular in Russia, where they are used to make tea.
Mulberries are unusual berries that are hard to find in the market due to their fragility. Soft and semi-sweet, mulberries are most often eaten by people who have a tree in their backyard or know how to identify them in the wild when picking fruit. Saskatoons are another type of unusual berry that isn’t grown commercially. Popular among Native Americans, saskatoons grow in tough soil and have a distinctive flavor that is unlike any other known berry.
Many types of unusual berries can only be found in North America in specialty or gourmet stores, or they can be grown at home from seeds or cuttings.
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