Fuchsia Flowers And Fruit

Day 359: Would it surprise you to learn that the fruit of hardy fuchsias is edible? Once again, I will remind my readers that the words "edible" and "desirable as food" have two entirely different meanings, but they're not as widely separated in this case as in many other instances. Fuchsia berries (the maroon lobes in the upper right of the image) are mildly sweet and bear a slight perfume to the palate. Oddly, I have never noticed any particular scent to the flowers of any of the ones I cultivate; the berries seem to be borne solely by the smaller-flowered varieties (Genii and Riccarotonii, presumably more closely related to the wild plant). I had planned to experiment with adding them to jelly this year, possibly using apple as the carrier as some people do when making mint or rose jelly, but despite the hummingbirds' best efforts (and they were very active), the plants have produced very little fruit when compared to past years. It was an experiment I was greatly anticipating, but unless the prodigious flowers still on the shrubs are fertilized and ripen quickly, it will have to wait until next autumn.