Cherry questions! Are my cherries edible? How can I find out?

[FGM]

Other than by risking upset tummy and trying them...

I have a big cherry tree in my garden with, erm, dark red cherries all over. The people I bought the house from said they weren't edible- is there any way to find out- reference places- other than the obvious test?

You could take some leaves and try to look them up in plant encyclopaedias. This Flora Search could be interesting. The technique they teach you on survival courses is to cut the berry in half and hold it against your lip or the tip of your tongue for a minute or two. If your lip burns or tingles unpleasantly then don't eat the fruit. I've got an attractive tree in my garden with dark red leaves and which gets dark red 'cherries' on it as well. I think it's a member of the malus family. The main reason I don't eat the fruit is because even the birds leave them alone

I did not think there were any inedible cherries!

I lost my ds last week - he did not arrive back from school - as suspected, he was found under a bird cherry in the woods eating them all.

Maybe as Chil suggests, its not a cherry. Our cherries have distinctive striped bark.

Malus just means apple genus - could be a crab apple?

Does it have a cherry stone inside or pips? Bird cherries are very sour, and so are crab apples.

I've eaten all posts of cherries i've found (though i was sure they were cherries...disclaimer!). Even the sour ones make great cherry brandy!

sorts sorry, phone.

I was wondering that about my cherry tree,they are red/yellow in my case.i think we should just chomp away and see what happens! I think they are all edible,just not all tasty,but I may be wrong.

Our cherry tree is very full this year - most are now quite deep red and rather lovely - only had a few last year. Hellymelly - they may be a different variety or depending where you are maybe just not enough sunshine yet. Maybe leave them on for a while yet.

How odd was just pondering this!

Theres a cherry tree on the way home from the doctors and DH was telling me not to eat them!

Red/yellow cherres seem to be called "naps" on the market. I've seen them for sale by the roadside in Kent. They are my faves - I am if that's what you've got HM.

oh yes, love the red/yellow ones!

they are definitely red/yellow when ripe,they are starting to ripen now.I didn't plant the tree and we haven't lived here all that long so I'm not sure how they will taste.Last Summer I think we forgot about them and the birdies ate the lot.Ditto all the redcurrants.This year I am being more vigilant as we have raspberries,redcurrants,blackcurrants,gooseberries,apples (x2) pears,plums and damsons.The plums and damsons seem to be not fruiting much though,old trees.And I have a wasp-sting allergy.....

I cannot imagine that if you have all every other fruit tree going the previous owners decided to plant a red & yellow inedible fruit tree for decoration as well

The damsons/plums may not have fruit because of the late frost we had. Give them another year.

The house is called Pomona (the goddess of fruit) so it is fitting I suppose.The apples and the stoned fruit are a lot older than the cherry (its a late georgian house).Its not a big garden,its a cottage garden, but it is well stocked.I'm hankering after a quince,are they hard to grow?

hellymelly I am absolutely green with envy. I'm starting to get there with a range of fruit - but I yearn for plums and damsons.

I thought all cherries were edible. We have quite sour cherries - the chicken eats a lot of them, but I've made cherry jam and once cherry chutney (I don't recommend it). And last year the DSs invented Cherry Tennis, which got rid of way too many .

Well we got lucky as they were all here.I have planted lots of roses, and now I'm filling up the beds with flowers and filling a small raised bed with herbs.Have a great nursery near me that has really interesting plants,I've bought some really pretty things,but I'd like to grow more veg.this year I've been rubbish as I've only got courgettes.(last year had peas and broad beans and salad stuff and spuds in bags as I only have small raised beds.Everything looks a bit of a mess at the moment as I can't get in the beds to weed in case of wasps.Buttercups all over the place,and about 10,00000 dandelions.

Try a mulberry - they are delicious but the trees do grow huge.

Auberon Waugh said in that you have to put a dead donkey in the hole when planting mulberries. I think he was being 'mischievous'.

Blardy big hole to bury a dead donkey!

Is that the same sort of advice like putting a dead rat in one's septic tank?

I read it a long time ago, but the idea was that a mulberry wouldn't fruit without it.

It was proven that this was a vital step as his mulberry had never fruited (because he omitted to dig a big hole & bury a donkey first).

(!)