Many wild Prunus species get attention from foragers: chokecherries, black cherries, American plums, pin cherries, tart cherries, and even sand cherries. Nanking cherry deserves some of that attention, too!
Though called a cherry by name, Nanking cherry is allegedly more closely related to plums. However, I think the name fits because its flavor and texture remind me more of cherries than plums. Either way, they’re delicious, ripen early, are fairly common, and are worth learning! Let’s review how to identify Nanking cherry, some possible look-alikes, where to find them, and how to harvest them!
Description
Nanking cherry, Prunus tomentosa, is a medium-sized shrub with unique features that make it simple to identify! It has orange-gray bark that can often be flakey.
The leaves are alternately arranged on the branches, one to three inches long, generally oval with a sharp, narrow leaf tip (accuminate), kind of wrinkled-looking, and finely serrated along the edges. The leaves are fuzzy on the top and bottom, where the Nanking cherry gets its species name. Tomentose means fuzzy or wooly in Latin.
The white to pink flowers bloom in the early spring before leaves begin to emerge. They become small green fruits attached tightly to the branches by short stems. These ripen to a bright red by early summer. The fruits are drupes with a single, small stone or pit inside.
Range & Habitats
Nanking cherry, Prunus tomentosa, is native to China and surrounding areas. It was introduced to parts of Europe and North America in the late 1800s and has now naturalized throughout much of the northern hemisphere. It can often be found in urban areas as a landscape plant, in natural spaces where birds or rodents likely planted it, and in the western states, it is commonly used in agricultural windbreaks and snow fences. Here in Colorado, I usually find it along the edges of urban parks, rivers, and landscaping.
Potential Look-alikes
The information in the description above should be enough to properly identify Nanking cherry. However, look-alike information is regularly requested, so here are some possible species that could be confused with Nanking cherry. This list is not comprehensive and may not be relevant to your region. Remember only to eat wild foods once you're 100% confident in your identification and comfortable with trying something new.
Other species of Prunus, like wild plums and tart cherries. Look for the fuzzy leaves and small red fruit attached closely to the branches. Most, if not all, Prunus species are safe.
Any small red berry or fruit such as honeysuckle, crab apple, wild cranberry, red gooseberry, and others. Look for the single stone of Nanking cherry and fuzzy, serrated, alternate leaves. Many of these species are also good edible wild plants.
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Nanking Cherry Edibility & Harvesting
Nanking cherry is a wonderful fruit for foragers because it ripens before many other wild Prunus species. It aligns more with the other early-ripening fruits such as juneberry and wild strawberry! In my area around Northern Colorado, Nanking cherries are usually ripe by late June and all gone by mid-July. They are easy to pluck from the branches by hand, but be careful not to burst open the very ripe cherries. I find that a small blicky or berry-picking basket attached to the belt can speed up the process. I have not had much luck using a berry rake for Nanking cherry. Their closeness to the thicker branches and leaves makes it hard to maneuver, and I ended up with many leaves and damaged cherries.
Nanking cherries are sweet and tart! They are one of my favorite wild cherries to eat right off the plant because of their nice flavor. They make a wonderful cherry pie if you’re willing to pit them, which is tedious work. You can’t use a traditional cherry pitter because these rarely get larger than half or three-quarters of an inch. When I made the pie, I used a paring knife to cut a slit in the skin and pop out the pits. I have also seen other foragers succeed in using a straw or chopstick to poke out the pits. If you’re not interested in spending an hour or two pitting small cherries, you can use them to make an excellent jam or jelly. They are a great candidate for a steam juicer if you have one. I was able to juice around 20 pounds of Nanking cherries in less than an hour and was left with four or five quarts of cherry juice to make jelly, syrup, wine, or anything else! You can use the leftover pulp and skins to make fruit scrap vinegar or other infusions.
They can also be stored in the freezer for a long time. Spread the cherries on a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper and put them in the freezer until firm. Then, seal them in a vacuum bag and place them back in the freezer. Freezing the cherries before packaging prevents the vacuum sealer from breaking them open. They can last multiple years when stored in the freezer like this.
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