Maybe it’s the name.
Amelanchier is tricky to pronounce if you’ve never heard it said out loud: am-eh-lan-kee-er. So let’s call it Serviceberry or Saskatoon or Shadblow or Juneberry…this plant has no shortage of common names! Whatever you call it, the fruit is delicious. Slightly larger than a blueberry, it tastes like a mashup of strawberry, blueberry, and just a touch of almond.
If you don’t mid my getting all plant-geeky for a minute, I’d like to circle back to all those common names.
-Amelanchier is sometimes called Juneberry because in some parts of the country (like the part where somebody named it Juneberry) the berries ripen in June.
-It’s called Shadblow because its flowers tell you when the shad are running and at their most delicious. Blow is derived from the Old English word meaning to bloom.
-In western North America it’s known as Saskatoon, from the Cree name for the plant. (The Canadian city was named after the plant.)
-The name Serviceberry is often explained by the story that in colonial America, Amelanchier flowers signaled when the ground had thawed enough to bury everyone who died over the winter (funeral service, get it?). But since that common name actually predates colonial America, the explanation doesn’t hold up. Still, I like the name.
Serviceberry comes in both tree and shrub (multi-trunk) forms, and is often used in home landscapes, both for its early, white spring flowers, and its outstanding, orange fall foliage. In nature they grow in full to part sun (more sun produces more flowers and fruit), and many different soil types. These are highly adaptable plants and they’ll tolerate some shade and drought, although the fruit crop will be diminished by both. They even grow well in large rooftop containers! People appreciate Amelanchier as a landscape plant, but very few taste the fruit. They don’t know what they’re missing.
How to Use Serviceberry:
Unfortunately, I’ve seen many people make the mistake of harvesting Amelanchier fruit while it’s still red. Red berries are certainly edible, but they are not fully ripe. Berries are at their best when they ripen to a dark, purple-blue. At this stage they are sweet, plump, and juicy. The fruit ripens gradually, over a period of weeks, so this will be a graduated harvest. Pick only the darkest, ripest fruit, then go back and repeat your harvest every few days, until all the berries are gone. The fruit is plentiful and seeds germinate easily. Any fruit you miss has a good chance of producing seedlings the following year.
In western Canada, Saskatoons (A. alnifolia, the western native) are being commercially grown and touted as a superfood, packed with nutrients and antioxidants. Studies show the berries to be higher than blueberries in vitamin C, fiber, iron, and protein.
Serviceberry fruit is delicious straight from the tree and can be used any way you’d use blueberries: smoothies, cobblers, pies, muffins, pancakes, jellies, jams, and ice cream. And don’t forget sorbet, pudding, wine, fruit leather, or syrup. Native Americans traditionally used the berries in pemmican, which is one of the few applications I haven’t tried…yet.
This low-maintenance, perennial crop deserves your appreciation. It’s easy to harvest in large quantities, it has excellent flavor, and the plant is beautiful. Promise me you’ll look for it next June!
I just did a FB live video under the Serviceberry tree in my backyard yesterday morning ????
If I ever own my own home/land, I want to plant at least one Serviceberry natice to the area in which I end up. ❤️❤️
You totally should!
How old do they have to be to fruit?
Sorry, but I don’t know. Since I mostly forage my serviceberries, I can’t say how old the trees are. But I can tell you I planted a small shrub of Amelanchier utahensis in my back yard two years ago and got a handful of fruit this year. Not enough to do anything with (it’s still very small) but the fruit is there. My guess is once the root system is established, and the plant has stored enough energy to flower, you’ll get fruit if the conditions are right for pollination. A little at first, and more as the plant matures.
They will fruit pretty young but you won’t get much from them. I have a tree I planted four years ago and estimate it was 2-4 years older from the nursery. It is now 8’ x 10’, lovely vase shape and heavy with fruit. This is the first year the birds haven’t gobbled the fruit before we got to it, but it’s also Cicada Brood X so the birds apparently are full on bugs! I’d send you a pic if this site would allow.
I don’t think you can add a photo here, but if you post it on my FB page (https://www.facebook.com/thebackyardforager), I’ll be able to see it there.
Are they starting to ripen? Mine are!!! ????????
Here in NM, Amelanchier utahensis fruit is still super-green, but we had a cool, wet spring. I’ll be in PA next week and can’t wait to see how they’re doing there. Where are you harvesting, Mike?
Ellen I’m in central illinois. I have 4 treee. 10 year olds.
As usual. I have to fight the birds for them !
????
It’s always a battle with the birds. Tell them they can have the fruit on the top of the tree and you’ll take the lower branches!
No way Ellen!! I want them all! Ha!
can serviceberries be mistaken as some toxic berry? (sorry if this is a dumb question…i’m just trying to learn more about the plants near me.)
Kathy, it’s not a stupid question. It’s always possible to mistake one thing for another, whether we’re talking about a berry, a leaf, or a person walking down the street. As a forager, it’s your job to learn the crucial i.d. characteristics for everything you harvest. Because (as you know!) you should never eat something if you’re not 100% certain of its identity. Some of the things to look for with Amelanchier are delicate white blossoms that precede leaves in spring, smooth gray bark, orange foliage in fall, and fruit about a centimeter in diameter that ripens from red to dark purple. The bottom of each fruit will have a five-pointed crown or collar. You’re right to be cautious…hope this helps.
thanks for your help ellen!! i love the idea of foraging, but i rarely pick anything except for a few dandelion leaves in my sister’s backyard. ???? i really like identifying plants and learning more about them! thank you for teaching me more about serviceberries!!
Just looked up your entry after having feasted on the service berries at the retirement home across the street. It’s an annual rite of summer for my son and I. I never see anyone else eat them. Though occasionally passers-by will ask incredulously “are those edible?!”
Isn’t it funny how so many people are unaware of these delicious edibles that are all around us. Glad you’re appreciating the serviceberries!
this is most helpful… our new house has a service berry tree… they are just turning purple now… I tasted one this morning…. with this information I will now go out and pick some…. yummy! I figured all the birds were on to something good…. I hope they leave me some berries.
Hopefully you and the birds can come to some sort of reasonable agreement!
I live in Northern Idaho and service berries grow all over my property. This year the berries are especially large. I’m hoping to make a liquor out of them this year. I love foraging!
Lucky you! Please let me know how your liquor turns out.
Hi, I’m in the UK and only just discovered Amalanchiers. I want one for my small urban garden (we don’t call them yards here unless they’re just concrete!) but at every garden centre I go to they look at me like I’m mad when I ask which species/varieties are best to eat. It’s really hard to find good information as they’re really only grown as ornamentals here, but my garden has to be productive AND beautiful so any advice on how to choose an Amalanchier would be much appreciated.
Don’t give up! The flavor of the fruit will vary from shrub to shrub (or tree to tree). Generally speaking, both A. canadensis and A. alnifolia are tasty, if grown under good conditions. I’d start by looking at either of those. If you come across another species and aren’t sure if it’s tasty, send me the name and I’ll help if I can.
I know I’m a year late but fruitandnut.ie sell ones for eating
Near my home in Colorado, they grow wild everywhere. And of course, we would never call them Juneberrys. because they’re barely blooming in June. I just harvested many mid-September this year!
You’re so lucky! And yes, I noticed that in CO (and NM, where I live) the fruit ripens much later than it does on the east coast.
Where I come from, service berries are called dog berries and vice versa. A Dogberry Tree is actually a rowan or mountain ash. I just wanted to clarify that for those reading from Atlantic Canada. It is not recommended to eat dogberries from the tree, After the frost takes them they are a little safer, but unripe dogberries can cause stomach upset and even kidney damage. Cooking them removes this risk.
Just don’t want anyone on the East Coast getting sick because they feel completely safe eating a dogberry as they need to be completely ripe and then should be cooked, boiled, etc so they don’t upset the stomach.
This is a perfect example of why it’s so important to know the botanical Latin plant names! Common names are often easier to remember and pronounce than Latin names, but they change from place to place, which can result in confusion. Where are you from? When I google dogberry, several possibilities come up: rowan/mountain ash, chokeberry, dogwood, and several roses. I can also see that both dogberry and serviceberry are used as common names for Sorbus (rowan/mountain ash) in Atlantic Canada. But I can’t find anywhere that dogberry is used as a common name for Amelanchier, and I’m always curious about this kind of thing.
I grew up eating serviceberries. I always found to be bland but slightly sweet. Probably because the bushes on our property were wild and growing in nutrient poor sand.
I loved reading your article. Your passion is obvious. A friend here in Atlanta has a small farm and she sells baskets of produce from it. This week, one of her offerings is serviceberries, which I’d never heard of until just now. A quick search about them brought me to you. Can’t wait to read more of your posts. Thanks so much.
Thank you for your kind words, Sandra. I hope you enjoy your serviceberries and I’m jealous!
It is totally the opportunity to harvest the berries we planted the serviceberry tree. Looking forward! Is it normal to have some green moss growing on the trunk?
It may be normal to have moss on the tree trunk, depending on where you live and what your growing conditions are like. Is there moss growing on any of your other trees?
I grew up in Alberta, calling them Saskatoon berries. I have lived in the Seattle area, and had fond memories of picking them. Now we have property in Winthrop WA, and I was thrilled to find many healthy bushes on our hill! I am looking forward to our harvest, and hoping the birds leave some for us.
Yes, Saskatoons are what they’re called on the west coast. I hope you convince the birds to share with you!
We planted a serviceberry a few years ago and that was the first time I noticed cedar wax wings in our neighborhood as they cleared the tree of is fruit. Thanks forthe tip on waiting until they are purple but by that time the birds have usually beat us to them. Any tips on beating the birds to the riper fruits? Also I noticed what may be spores or some disease on some of the fruit this year. I did see a way to post a pic here – if I find out how I will. Any safe way you could advise to help with this? Thanks!
There isn’t a way to post a photo here, but you can always post one on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/thebackyardforager/ However, that may not be necessary. If the spores were orange and look like hairs coming out of the fruit and/or leaves, it’s cedar apple rust. I don’t know where you’re located, but it’s a common fungal disease in places that have cool, wet springs. It’s a dual host disease, requiring one host in the cedar family (like junipers) and one host in the apple family (like serviceberry). Spores travel on the wind, so even if you don’t have a juniper in your yard, they can arrive from down the block. In other words, it’s tough to break the cycle of this disease. You could try a fungicide, but it must be one rated safe for edibles, if you plan to eat your fruit. As far as beating the birds to the fruit…good luck! Their lives depend on the fruit and yours doesn’t, so they will ALWAYS be more motivated than you. Try using the same kind of netting that people use on blueberries. Even if you can only wrap the bottom part of your tree, that will allow you to share your harvest. The birds can have the fruit on the top and you can have the fruit on the bottom.
I just picked a quart and a half of service berries down the street from us in St. Paul, Minnesota. We have one in our backyard that I planted long ago, but it’s too shaded to bear fruit now. The fruit is delicious, I’m going to make some jam!
Sounds great, Paul, I’m a big jam maker. Hope it’s delicious!
Interesting! We’ve lived in our property for 16 years, watching this small shrub grow to a very large one, and enjoying the beautiful popcorn balls of blossoms each spring. This is the first year either of us can recall seeing berries! Besides being attractive to birds, we’ve had moose visitors to it several times. This berry occurrence is what caused me to look it up to find out its identity. Although full now, I don’t know that there will be many left to harvest when they are ripe!
What a great article! Do you know if these are toxic dor dogs?
I’m sorry, but I don’t know much about toxicity for dogs. The ASPCA website has an exhaustive list of plants that are toxic to cats and dogs. Maybe you can find that information there?
Aren’t the seeds back bad? I’ve heard they contain cyanide. Am I wrong?
No and yes. The seeds are not bacd. But like many other seeds they contain small amounts of cyanogenic glycosides which can react with an enzyme in the intestine that can become cyanide. However, the amount found in Amelanchier seeds is negligible. Apple seeds contain more, ad most of us have probably swallowed a few of those!
Hi, I really enjoyed your article, thanks for posting! I know that there are sone cyanide forming substances inside the serviceberries, how many can I eat every day? Approximately… thank you!
Hi, I really enjoyed your article, thanks for posting! At maximum, how many can I eat every day without getting sick? Approximately… thank you!
I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick from eating serviceberries. If you have a lot of food allergies, particularly to things in the rose family, that’s something to consider. Otherwise, it’s like asking how many apples can you eat every day without getting sick. To which, unfortunately, the answer is I don’t know!
do the berries make a mess when they fall on a deck?
I think every berry makes a mess when it falls on the deck if it’s soft and ripe. Serviceberries are softer than crabapples but harder than bramble berries. So yes, they can be messy if you leave them on the tree to fall. I suggest picking them when they’re ripe but before they fall from the tree.
These are my favourite berry and I’ve picked them in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. I’ve learned first to taste the tree, as with some the seed is bigger and the berry dry. Find some bushes near a stream or some water and the berries will be just right. I like them in a handpie with a spruce tip glaze.
I absolutely agree about tasting from the tree first. The flavor varies greatly from tree to tree. And thank you for the idea of a spruce tip glaze! I never thought of that and I bet it’s delicious.
These are my favourite berry and I’ve picked them in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. I’ve learned first to taste the tree, as with some the seed is bigger and the berry dry. Find some bushes near a stream or some water and the berries will be just right. I like them in a handpie with a spruce tip glaze.
I absolutely agree about tasting from the tree first. The flavor varies greatly from tree to tree. And thank you for the idea of a spruce tip glaze! I never thought of that and I bet it’s delicious.
Hi Ellen! You talk about the name serviceberry’s coming from the fact the tree blooms when the ground is thawed enough to bury the people who had died during the winter in Colonial America. Then you say that the name serviceberry predates Colonial America. My sister claims that is the origin of the name. Do you have any documentation that proves your claim the name predates Colonial America? I would love to prove to my sister that she doesn’t know EVERYTHING.
Hello John K, The definition below is from the OED and their earliest listed reference is from 1578, which is before the first settlements in New England. Let me know how it works out with your sister.
service-berry n. †(a) the fruit of the Service ( Pyrus domestica); (b) a N. American tree or shrub of the genus Amelanchier, belonging to the family Rosaceæ and bearing clusters of white flowers followed by small, dark-coloured berries; also, the fruit of this tree or shrub; (c) the fruit of the white-beam, Pyrus Aria ( Cent. Dict.).
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. lii. 727 The Sorbe Apples or Seruice beries.
1784 F. Asbury Jrnl. 31 July (1821) I. 370 The child he fed with..sawice berries.
1807 P. Gass Jrnls. 136 I saw service-berry bushes hanging full of fruit.
1847 G. F. A. Ruxton Adventures in Mexico xxiv. 206 A shrub which produces a fruit called by the mountaineers service-berries.
1894 Outing July 306/1 The undergrowth was poplar, sarvice-berry bushes and other shrubs.
Hi Ellen! You talk about the name serviceberry’s coming from the fact the tree blooms when the ground is thawed enough to bury the people who had died during the winter in Colonial America. Then you say that the name serviceberry predates Colonial America. My sister claims that is the origin of the name. Do you have any documentation that proves your claim the name predates Colonial America? I would love to prove to my sister that she doesn’t know EVERYTHING.
Hello John K, The definition below is from the OED and their earliest listed reference is from 1578, which is before the first settlements in New England. Let me know how it works out with your sister.
service-berry n. †(a) the fruit of the Service ( Pyrus domestica); (b) a N. American tree or shrub of the genus Amelanchier, belonging to the family Rosaceæ and bearing clusters of white flowers followed by small, dark-coloured berries; also, the fruit of this tree or shrub; (c) the fruit of the white-beam, Pyrus Aria ( Cent. Dict.).
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. lii. 727 The Sorbe Apples or Seruice beries.
1784 F. Asbury Jrnl. 31 July (1821) I. 370 The child he fed with..sawice berries.
1807 P. Gass Jrnls. 136 I saw service-berry bushes hanging full of fruit.
1847 G. F. A. Ruxton Adventures in Mexico xxiv. 206 A shrub which produces a fruit called by the mountaineers service-berries.
1894 Outing July 306/1 The undergrowth was poplar, sarvice-berry bushes and other shrubs.
We had 2 serviceberry bushes for many years. We had to replace them last year. I hope the new ones will taste as good. They did flower, but they’re still pretty small, so I guess I’ll let the birds have all of them this year. Then the birds can do what birds do — gorge themselves and then sit on our mailbox and do what birds do.
Yes, the birds often help us with planting, don’t they?!
I planted a service berry over 25 years ago, the trunk is over 8″ across, the tree bears 100s of thousands of berries. I have never gotten a berry as when they start to blush a flock of cedar wax wings comes and strips the tree within a few hours. I never realized the berries turn purple as the birds eat them just when they start to blush.
Yes, it’s always a race with the birds. And since their lives depend on it and ours don’t…they usually win. But perhaps you could use netting to protect a section of the tree and that way you might get to taste the fruit.
Hi, we planted ours about 4-5 years ago here in the northern part of Los Angeles county (desert). Last year we had gotten a hand full, but this year, wow. We picked enough for a pie before it got dark this evening. Tomorrow we’ll go pick the other two thirds of the bush (1 of 4). This bush is doing much better than the other three bushes, which have berries but not near as many. We love the taste, which are like weak blueberry with a mix of almond extract, mild flavor. We have just been eating them as they ripen and have not used them in anything cooked yet, but are counting on them to get a stronger taste when cooked like blueberries do. We wish we would have planted them years ago. Nobody around us has even heard of the service berry, nor have we seen them in a nursery hear before. Thanks to the internet, now we can choose to plant bushes and trees that give back fruit instead of just being pleasing to the eye. Oh ya, and the birds haven’t gotten any of them yet, probably to many Mulberries to eat.
I love this!
Thank so much for this great post and discussion!
I’m trying to figure out what varieties to plant here in mid-coast Maine. We urban forage in parks in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, but haven’t come across any here…yet… I like to mix serviceberries and rhubarb 🙂 My favorite recipes are serviceberry and rhubarb compote and serviceberry and rhubarb custard squares.
I saw you mention that A. canadensis and A. alnifolia are tasty — it looks like they have these at our local garden center. Do you know anything about A. Lamarchii or A. Arborea — I came across them online as good to eat, but I’d love some confirmation. It would be very disappointing to plant something, wait a few years for it to grow, and come out with bland berries!…
I’ve never tried A. larmarchii or A. arborea so I can’t speak to their flavor. I have tried A. utahensis, which is not as tasty as A. canadensis or A. alnifolia. The truth is that even among species, flavor can vary so there’s no absolute guarantee. Fortunately, serviceberries often fruit young, so you won’t have to wait too long to find out. Your recipes sound delicious…I hope you find some good plants.
Im from down east Maine and we have them growing wild everywhere!
lucky you!
We just moved to the Upper Penisula of Michigan and found Serviceberries across the street from where we live and my son and I were not 100% sure if they were blueberries because of the size of the tree/bush. We ate few but wanted better identification. Your description and picture of the fruits and leaves gave us confidence in the correct identification. My 9 y.o. son now wants to make a pie out of the berries and my wife also thought the serviceberry/rhubarb combo sounds good as well. Thank you so much.
That’s wonderful, thanks for letting me know. I hope you enjoy them!
In Germany we call them “Felsenbirne” (Rock pear). Besides tasting very nice, they are also loved by birds. And did I mention, that they look awesome when in bloom and also in autumn the orange red coloring is just adorable.
Best regards
Steffen
Good information but does anyone know the difference between serviceberries and huckleberries? I’m in Montana where we have both and appear to be very similar! Trying to figure out exactly how to identify each. Thanks!
Huckleberries are shrubs and serviceberries are USUALLY trees, although Amelanchier utahensis is multi-stemmed and might be confused for a shrub when young. The bark, leaf shape, and overall shape of the plant (size, branching habit, etc.) are different. If you Google both, you should be able to see what I mean.
When I was a kid growing up in Star Valley, Wyoming, we kids used to take empty paint (clean) paint buckets, attach them to our belts and head up into the woods to pick serviceberries. After we had filled out buckets, we were allowed to pick and eat as many as we wanted, and we did, by the mouthful. Yumm. The way we used them was to can them like you would raspberries, in a light syrup with a touch of clove. They kept us happy and smiling all winter long! Delicious!
My beautiful Serviceberry in the Blue Ridge in Virginia is a magnet for 300 pound bear which try to climb, snack and then snap major stems. I have resorted to trying to pick the unripe berries, of which there must be a thousand each year. If I wait until ripening is complete before harvesting, the bear would crush the trunk and branches. Nature wins…I lose.
You have my empathy! I’m so sorry. When this happens to me I remind myself that their lives depend on it and mine doesn’t. I know that doesn’t really help but it’s the best I can offer.
We live in the mountains of Colorado. Service berries are known as Sarvis berries here. We have made Sarvis wine for 13 years now. A 6 gallon batch will use or need 20 to 25lbs of berries, sugar and several other wine ingredients. The correct yeast is absolutely necessary to create a perfect wine. An ample availability of berries helps! Any other wine stories?
Brian B