id please-thought it was a sloe

been keeping my eye on this as i thought it was a sloe. picked some today and they are almost ripe. they look like sloes but the bush did not have any thorns so suspect it isnt. can anyone say for sure

 

No picture yet but a friend of mine once picked some wild plums mistaking them for sloes. Wasn't until she tasted them that she realised. Taste it!

 

knowing me it will be poisonous!!! photo should have been there by now. will add it again here

 

Have a look at the sloe picture here:
http://www.oswild.org/news/hedgerow.html
Did the berry have a bloom on it? Sloes usually do. Leaves are quite small and berries about thumbnail size.
I can't recall any bush or tree with poisonous fruit like that, just touching the fruit to your lips after breaking the skin will soon tell you. It could be a wild cherry but I've never seen one so dark.

[ 22. August 2006, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Liz ]

 

Sloes are the fruits of the blackthorn and they are very thorny.

Sloes


Not sure what your fruit is LG

 

Not very well up on these hedgerow prunus type things but could it be a damson

 

the berries are about1 cm diameter. bit into one and havent died yet!didnt taste very nice- very bitter. I dont know what it is. there were no thorns so guessit cant be a sloe. will keep my eye on it as it ripens and see what happens.

 

Sloes have a very distinctive taste, sort of mouth curlingly bitter. Damsons etc have a normal sour taste.
Sloes are thorny, I agree, but not all branches- I think the older branches are thorny. My little sloe bushes have hardly any thorns. Another tip is that they are usually in the hedgerow with hawthorns.
Sloes round here are ripening very early and very plump already. I don't usually pick them for about a month. They are supposed to be better after the first frosts, but bunging them in the freezer for a bit will simulate that.
Roll on the sloe gin/ vodka! :D

 

Possibly Bullace. They won't be fully ripe yet and will taste sour.

Sloe are unmistakeble and will instantly dry your mouth and make your teeth curl unless very ripe and just about ready to fall off the tree in which case they are just bitter.

 

Hmm. maybe a bullace. certainly looks like one from a photo. will look into this. thanks. i am now determined to find out what it is

 

not seen your fruit any where dosn`t look like the sloes here they have a greyish bloom on them normally, good luck finding out. Now what is a bullace?

 

Bullace is a wild plum with few or no thorns. So I'm pretty sure that is as far as we can go with LG's mystery fruit. Cut one open and see if there is a plum stone inside

 

Hi Hornbeam thanks for letting me know what a bullace is I shall be on the lookout for it .