conuly

The little wild grapes of the woods of Ohio are just about the same size as Oregon grape, and they're just as tart - I used to eat so many of them every fall that I'd get 'grape rash' around my mouth from the acidity. The biggest and ripest of them tasted a little like particularly small, sour Concord grapes. Probably one could tell them from Oregon grape in an actual taste-test, but they're pretty close.

Himalayans are the abundant blackberry, but there's 20 other species of drupelet-bearing Rosacea out there, and IMHO any of them except thimbleberries would make better jam than Oregon grape (I love thimbleberries, but they're only good fresh.) I had Oregon grape sauce on a meat dish once, which was odd but okay - haven't ever cooked with them myself, though I did dye cloth with the roots once, which make a fine bright yellow.

Good to know about the purple 'key lime' pie; thanks! There's tons of Oregon grape getting ripe just now, so I might just try that out