Blue coloured berries growing wild alongside the Camino Aragonés??

[DoughnutANZ]

Can help me?

As I walked the Camino Aragones this summer I often saw next to the trail a small blue fruit growing wild. It looks a bit like a blueberry except a brighter blue. I sometimes pick and eat wild blackberries as I walk as a nice snack but I wasn't sure about the bright blue fruit and so I didn't try eating it. I did squash one between my fingers so that I could smell it and it was sticky on my fingers, unlike a blueberry.

Do you know what this fruit is and is it okay to eat it?

 

[Juspassinthru]

Can help me?

As I walked the Camino Aragones this summer I often saw next to the trail a small blue fruit growing wild. It looks a bit like a blueberry except a brighter blue. I sometimes pick and eat wild blackberries as I walk as a nice snack but I wasn't sure about the bright blue fruit and so I didn't try eating it. I did squash one between my fingers so that I could smell it and it was sticky on my fingers, unlike a blueberry.

Do you know what this fruit is and is it okay to eat it?

My friend from Zaragoza sent me this:


Endrino ....we use that fruit to elaborate Pacharán

If it’s the same, they make preserves and a liquor from it.

Consume at your own risk.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

My friend from Zaragoza sent me this:

View attachment 178790
Endrino ....we use that fruit to elaborate Pacharán

If it’s the same, they make preserves and a liquor from it.

Consume at your own risk.

Thank you.

From Endrino I found this:
"Blackthorn berries are edible, but they are really tart if eaten raw, so you'd better use them cooked"

 

[DoughnutANZ]

For the curious and uneducated (like me):

Patxaran - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Consume at your own risk

The berries? The liqueur? Or both?

 

[Juspassinthru]

The berries? The liqueur? Or both?

Yes, yes and yes.

 

[Vacajoe]

Never underestimate the ability of humans to take something too tart and inedible and make it into alcohol!

Sloe gin in the UK is made by soaking the blackthorn berries in gin. They are a relative of plums.

 

[Flog]

Do you know what this fruit is and is it okay to eat it?

One of the locals in Canfranc uses them to make a flavoured liquor.. I thought it a bit sweet if anything, but with a good kick. I'm not sure if they're safe to eat raw, but you could try one or two. I'm sure they won't kill you, and if you survive after it, let us know..

 

[Camino Chrissy]

When we walked the Via Francigena from Lucca, a friendly young Italian man, Stefan, became like a tour guide for our few days walking together as he spoke some English. He would sometimes eat those berries, along with other odd small fruit I didn't recognize. My son remembered and has been eating a few recently on the Invierno. He started out with just one or two to make sure his stomach had no problem.
Thanks, @DoughnutANZ, for inquiring, as I found the name and its uses quite interesting.

 

[Kirkie]

My friend's father made loads of patxaran every year. The attic store is still full of it. Before luggage restrictions I used to bring home a 3 litre bottle every year! Commercial stuff is not a patch! I never ate one of the berries, though.

 

[Bradypus]

My friend's father made loads of patxaran every year. The attic store is still full of it. Before luggage restrictions I used to bring home a 3 litre bottle every year! Commercial stuff is not a patch! I never ate one of the berries, though.

Very hard to buy patxaran where I live in Wales. So when there is a decent crop I make my own. A reminder of my first Camino when a kind Spanish pilgrim introduced me to the stuff. Just about time to search for this year's supply!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

@Bradypus, I was wondering what "color" the liquor turns out to be, whether blueish or clear. You've just answered my question with your picture.

 

[LeslieC]

Pacharan/patxaran (the latter is the Basque rendering, I understand) is wonderful stuff, and I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with it in Spain next year. I remember last time we were there, enquiring after it in a booze shop in San Sebastian and being shown the flagons of aniseed liqueur the locals use to make their own.

As @Vacajoe mentioned above, the English version is sloes, as in sloe gin. We have a couple of trees at home but they have yet to produce any fruit. For now, I use Italian plums supplied by a friend to flavour my gin. Yes, I make that!

 

[Lexicos]

They are edible. They grow in other parts of Southern Europe. I don’t know what they are called in English but I’ve eaten heaps as a kid and also heaps while walking on the Camino. They’re sweet if you pick them when soft and ripe.

 

[Lexicos]

PS: Prunus Spinosa, is the official botanical name.