This dictionary brings together the main berries available in retail channels, berries that grow wild in Italian forests, berries used in food preparations, and berries that are widespread in certain parts of the world or recently introduced as a result of cross-breeding.
Each fruit is characterised by its common Italian name (in some cases commonly used synonyms are also given), its botanical name in Latin and its English translation. For each entry a brief description and a cross-reference to the corresponding Wikipedia entry and other related content on Italian Berry is provided.
Entries are presented in alphabetical order: açaí, amla, aronia, boysenberry, camemoro, arbutus, dogwood, barberry, strawberry, wild strawberry, goji, jostaberry, kiwiberry, raspberry, black raspberry, loganberry, blueberry giant, blueberry red, blueberry wild, blueberry siberian, blackberry, white mulberry, blackberry blackberry, red mulberry, wild olive, ossicoco, ravenberry, pineberry, white currant, black currant, red currant, rosé berries, salmonberry, black elderberry, tayberry, gooseberry, youngberry.
AÇAÍ
Euterpe oleracea
The açaí is a plant of the palm tree family widespread in the Amazon. Açaí is used by the Indians to produce the palmito. The berry, to which therapeutic properties are attributed, contains dietary fiber, vitamins A, B, C, E, mineral salts, metals, phytosterols, antioxidants, monounsaturated fats. (Wikipedia)
AMLA
Indian gooseberry - Phyllanthus emblica (English: emblic or Indian gooseberry)
Amla is an edible fruit widely used in India both fresh and in sweet or savoury food preparations. (Wikipedia)
ARONIA
Aronia arbutifolia and Aronia melanocarpa (English chokeberry)
The pea-sized, often wax-covered fruit of the aronia tree may resemble blueberries in appearance, but not in taste, which is much harsher. They ripen in autumn and a period of frost sweetens their taste, but they are more suitable for making jam. The berries are either made into juice or eaten like sultanas, partially dried. Due to its high content of flavonoids, vitamin K and vitamin C, aronia was considered a medicinal plant in both Poland and Russia.(Wikipedia)
BOYSENBERRY
Rubus idaeus x Rubus ulmifolius
The boysenberry is a cross between European raspberry (Rubus idaeus), European blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), American blackberry (Rubus aboriginum) and loganberry (Rubus × loganobaccus). Since the early 2000s, fresh boyenberries have generally been grown only for the market by small Californian farmers and sold at local stands and farmers' markets. Most of the boyenberries grown commercially, mainly from Oregon, are processed into other products such as jam, cake, juice, syrup and ice cream. (Wikipedia)
CAMEMORO
Arctic Rove - Rubus chamaemorus (English cloudberry)
The fruits of camemoro are eaten fresh or processed into jam, juice, jelly. They contain benzoic acid - a natural preservative that allows them to keep well in their own juice or in sweetened water when kept cool. Preserved camemoro also serves as a side dish for meat. In the food industry the fruit is used in the production of ice cream, yoghurt and liqueurs, the best known of which is lakkalikööri, produced in Finland. (Wikipedia)
ARBUTUS
Arbutus unedo (English arbutus)
The fruit of the strawberry tree is a spherical berry of about 2 centimetres, fleshy and red when ripe, covered with quite rigid tubercles a few millimetres thick; the ripe fruits have a good taste, which not everyone, however, appreciates. It is possible to use the fruits, which are edible even fresh, for homemade jams (jams) and other preparations. The fruits ripen in October-December, in the following year compared to the flowering that gives them their origin, have a scalar ripening and can be present on the same shrub ripe red berries and paler still unripe. (Wikipedia)
CORNELIAN
Cornus mas (English: dogwood)
The berries red dogwoods are processed not only for the production of fruit juices and jams (excellent as an accompaniment to boiled meat), but also to flavour certain types of spirits, such as grappa, for example. The fruits can also be eaten fresh, but it is preferable to enjoy the freshly fallen ones or those that come off the stem with a light touch of the hand, i.e. when they are fully ripe.(Wikipedia)
CRESPINO
Berberis vulgaris (English: barberry)
The fruit of the barberry is an edible 1 cm long berry, red and persistent on the plant, which contains two to three horny-shelled seeds. It blooms in April-May and ripens in July. It is also a medicinal and medicinal herb. (Wikipedia)
STRAWBERRY
Fragaria (English: strawberry)
Strawberry refers to the fruits of plants of the genus Fragaria to which many different species belong. In reality it is a false fruit and aggregate fruit. This term is commonly used to refer to the edible part of the plant: although strawberries are considered fruits from a nutritional point of view, they are not from a botanical point of view, as the real fruits are the so-called achenes, i.e. the yellow seeds that can be seen on the surface of the strawberry. The strawberry is considered as an aggregate fruit because it is nothing more than the enlarged receptacle of an inflorescence, usually placed on a special stem. (Wikipedia)
WILD STRAWBERRY
Fragaria vesca (English: wild strawberry)
The wild strawberry is a herbaceous plant of the rose family. Spontaneous in Italian undergrowth, it is cultivated for its fruit: small strawberries with a very intense fragrance. It differs from the cultivated hybrid varieties of Fragaria in that the fruit is small and soft (hence the name vesca, which means soft in Latin). According to some sources, the name Fragaria is Indo-European and is related to the Sanskrit ghra, meaning 'fragrance'.(Wikipedia)
GOJI
Lyciumbarbarum or Lycium chinense
Goji is a slightly elongated red berry containing several flattened seeds. It can be eaten freshly picked. Today, goji berries are available on the market dried or in concentrate mixed with other products such as fruit juices, yoghurt, tea, snacks, bars and jams. Their flavour is comparable to that of blueberry, sultanas, raspberries and strawberries.(Wikipedia)
JOSTABERRY
Ribes nigrum x Ribes uva-crispa
Jostaberry is a complex cross between blackcurrant, North American coastal black gooseberry and European gooseberry. This almost black berry, smaller than a gooseberry and a little larger than a blackcurrant, is edible both raw and cooked. It has an intermediate taste between a gooseberry and a blackcurrant, with the gooseberry flavor more dominant in the unripe fruit, and the blackcurrant notes developing as the fruit ripens. The slightly unripe fruit can be used in cooking like gooseberries. Like blackcurrants, the fruit freezes well, and like many other fruits of the genus Ribes it is rich in vitamin C. (Wikipedia)
KIWIBERRY
Mini kiwi, baby kiwi - Actinidia witty
The shrewd fruit bears fruit in mid-autumn, at the beginning and end of October, in small bunches of 4-5 fruits every 10 centimetres of branch, thus giving a very abundant harvest. The fruits are similar to Kiwi, but they are as big as a walnut, green and without the external hair typical of that species. Depending on how ripe they are, they can become reddish or purplish and particularly soft. They also differ from Kiwi fruit by their sweeter taste and skin that doesn't have to be removed to eat the fruit. (Wikipedia)
RASPBERRY
Rubus idaeus (English: raspberry)
The red raspberry or European raspberry is a fruit shrub belonging to the Rosaceae family and the genus Rubus whose homonymous fruit, red in colour and with a sweet-acidulous taste, is highly appreciated in food preparations. (Wikipedia)
BLACK RASPBERRY
Rubus occidentalis (English: black raspberry)
Black raspberries usually have very dark purple-black fruits, rich in anthocyanin pigments. However, due to occasional mutations in the genes that control anthocyanin production, yellow fruit variants ("yellow raspberries") sometimes occur, which have been occasionally propagated, especially in the central-western United States (e.g., Ohio). The yellow-fruited variants of the black raspberry retain the characteristic flavour of this species, which is different from the similar light-fruited variants of the cultivated red raspberries. (Wikipedia)
LOGANBERRY
Rubus × loganobaccus
The loganberry is a hybrid of blackberry and raspberry. The plant and fruit resemble blackberries more than raspberries, but the color of the fruit is dark red, rather than black as in blackberries. Loganberries can be eaten fresh without preparation, or used for juice or in jams, pies, fruit syrups, and wines. Like other hybrids of blackberries and raspberries, loganberries can be used interchangeably with raspberries or blackberries in most recipes.(Wikipedia)
GIANT CRANBERRY
Vaccinium corymbosum (English: blueberry)
The giant American blueberry is a fruit plant belonging to the Ericaceae family and the genus Vaccinium, native to North America. Thanks to its abundant fruiting it has become a widely cultivated species, and of high industrial importance, widespread in the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South America.(Wikipedia)
CRANBERRY
Vaccinium vitis-idaea (English lingonberry)
The red blueberry is not to be confused, as is often the case, with two different species of the same genus, the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) or the marsh vole (Vaccinium oxycoccos). The fruit is a round, edible berry, about 0,5-1 cm in diameter, with a glossy, hard, bright red skin that turns dark red as it ripens. The pulp is dense and rich in seeds, with a sourish and astringent taste due to the high content of tannins, which give the red blueberry antioxidant properties. It is eaten fresh or in a jam that goes well with meat dishes.(Wikipedia)
WILD BLUEBERRY
Vaccinium myrtillus (English: wild blueberry)
It should not be confused with the American giant blueberry , a widely cultivated and sold species up to 2-3 m high with larger fruits. The wild blueberry grows wild in Eurasia and North America. In Italy it is found in the Alps and Apennines. The wild blueberry contains quantities of organic acids (citric, malic), sugars, pectin, tannins, bilberry (colouring glycoside), anthocyanins, vitamins A, C and, in smaller quantities, vitamin B. The fruits are eaten fresh or processed into juice or jam, or even in confectionery.(Wikipedia)
SIBERIAN BLUEBERRY
Haskap or Turkish honeysuckle - Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica (English: honeyberry or blue honeysuckle)
It is a fresh temperate fruit native to the entire northern hemisphere and temperate in countries such as Canada, Japan, Russia and Poland. The plant or its fruit is also called haskap, derived from its name in the language of the Ainu people native to Hokkaido, Japan. Haskap is a deciduous shrub that grows up to 1.5-2 m high. The fruit is a blue, edible, rather cylindrical berry, weighing 1.3 to 2.2 grams and about 1 cm in diameter. (Wikipedia)
MORA
Rubus fruticosus (English: blackberry)
The edible fruit of the bramble, the blackberry, is composed of numerous small drupes, green at the beginning, then red and finally blackish when ripe, each one deriving from separate carpels but belonging to the same gynoecium. In Italy the fruit is ripe in August and September; the taste varies from sweet to sour. (Wikipedia)
WHITE MULBERRY
Morus alba (English white mulberry)
The colour of the infructescence of Morus alba is yellowish-white or violet-pink (there may be confusion with those of Morus nigra), and are carried by a short petiole. They are edible, the flesh is sweetish with acidulous tips even before ripening, although they are less tasty than those of the black mulberry. They contain 22% sugar, and have a sweetening power, both fresh and reduced to flour. Once fermented, an alcoholic liqueur can be obtained. (Wikipedia)
BLACK MULBERRY
Morus nigra (English: black mulberry)
In Italy, especially in Sicily, the fruit of this tree is used both as table fruit and as a component of sweets, jams and toppings. Famous is the mulberry granita. Even the tender leaves can be used for human consumption, being a bit sweet. (Wikipedia)
RED MULBERRY
Morus rubra (English: red mulberry)
The red mulberry tree is a deciduous tree. The berries are bright red tending to black when fully ripe. The fruits ripen in June-July, flowering takes place in April. (Wikipedia)
SEA BUCKTHORN
Elaeagnus rhamnoides
Sea buckthorn berries are not used fresh because they are very acidic but are used in jams and jellies, liqueurs or to make tea. (Wikipedia)
OXYCOCCUS
Swamp mortar - Vaccinium macrocarpon (English: cranberry)
Oxycoccus is a small fruit plant producing red berries of American origin. This plant is also called "blueberry American red", not to be confused with the simply called "blueberry red" (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), a shrub producing a similar fruit of European and Asian origin.
Consumption as a food is deeply rooted in the United States and Canada, where it is traditionally eaten on winter holidays, as an acid compote for Thanksgiving. Fruits and compotes, juices and jellies derived from them, as well as for alimentary purposes, are also traditionally considered with pharmacological, disinfectant and anti-inflammatory activities. The fruit has a strong acidic component that remains in the derived products, and which contrasts pleasantly with the sweetness that is also contained in the pulp of the fruit. (Wikipedia)
RAVEN PEAR
Amelanchier ovalis (English juneberry)
The fruits are edible and have a sweet pear-like taste, but are not very palatable due to the lack of pulp and the quantity of seeds. They can be eaten fresh or used to make jams, preserves and to flavour grappa. They were once also made into an alcoholic beverage. (Wikipedia)
PINEBERRY
Strawberry-ananas
Pineberry wines come from varietal selections made in Chile and Virginia. The first commercial cultivation took place in 2010 in the Netherlands and Belgium. A pineberry is smaller than a common strawberry, measuring 15 to 23 mm (0,6 to 0,9 in). When ripe it is almost completely white, but with red 'seeds' (achenes). They are available in spring and summer. They have a very aromatic taste reminiscent of pineapple. Strawberry-ananas are native to South America. Due to the lack of interest in cultivation, Pineberry has risked disappearing but the constant efforts of Dutch and Belgian growers have made it possible to recover the exotic fruit and avoid its extinction. (Wikipedia)
WHITE CURRANT
Ribes sativum (English: white currant)
White currants, compared to red and black currants, taste sweeter and have few nutrients, but are still an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin B6. (Wikipedia)
BLACKCURRANT
Ribes nigrum (English: black currant)
The fruits are globular black berries rich in seeds with at the apex the vestiges of the flower that appear in August-September. It differs greatly from redcurrants in the colour, aroma and flavour and the destination of the fruit. Blackcurrants are grown mainly for food purposes, but in recent years the therapeutic purpose is becoming increasingly popular. (Wikipedia)
REDCURRANT
Ribes rubrum (English: red currant)
The redcurrant is a small perennial shrub, deciduous and deciduous, 1-2 metres tall at most, very ramified. The leaves are green with three lobes. The flowers vary in colour from yellow to green. It blooms in March-April and fructifies in July-August. The fruits are small red berries, edible. (Wikipedia)
ROSÉ BERRIES
Rosé Berries™ developed by Driscoll's have a unique and complex taste. The rosé colour comes from a natural blend of light and dark berries. Rosé Berries™ contains sweet and peachy notes, with a floral finish as soft and delicate as a rose. The texture is soft, silky and creamy. (Driscoll's)
SALMONELLA
Rubus spectabilis (English: salmonberry)
The fruits of salmonella are edible and share the structure of the raspberry fruit, with the fruit coming off its receptacle. The fruit has been defined "bland", but depending on the ripeness and place of production, it is eaten well raw and if processed into jam, candy, jelly and wine. (Wikipedia)
BLACK ELDERBERRY
Sambucus nigra (English: elderberry)
Black elderberries are edible only after cooking and are used for jellies and jams, which should not be abused because of their laxative properties. The berries are also used for sweet soups, such as Fliederbeersuppe from northern Germany. (Wikipedia)
TAYBERRY
Rubus fruticosus x idaeus
The Tayberry is a cross between blackberry and raspberry. It can be consumed fresh or used to make jams, cakes or wine. Tayberry berries are very soft when fully ripe, so they cannot be harvested by machine. They are grown mainly for private use. (Wikipedia)
GOOSEBERRIES
Grape-cispa currant (English: gooseberry)
The gooseberry is a small perennial, deciduous and deciduous shrub, thorny with intricate branches, about 50-200 cm tall. The fruit is an edible berry of variable size and hairiness with some seeds inside; there are several varieties of red or yellow. The fruit is edible; aromatic, juicy and sweet when fully ripe. It can be used fresh, to make jams, syrups and jellies. As a medicinal and officinal herb, gooseberries can be used thanks to their content of vitamin C, vitamin A, polyphenols, mineral salts, malic acid. (Wikipedia)
YOUNGBERRY
Youngberry is a complex hybrid between three different species of the genus Rubus, raspberries, blackberries and berries of the family Rosaceae. The berries of the plant are eaten fresh or used to make juices, jams, and in recipes.(Wikipedia)
