Elderberries and blackberries free of charge Free fruits in Bonn

Bonn · Wild fruits can be collected free of charge in many places. What to look out for when collecting elderberries and blackberries.

Wild fruits can be collected free of charge in many places. What to look out for when collecting elderberries and blackberries.

Wild fruits can be collected free of charge in many places. What to look out for when collecting elderberries and blackberries.

Foto: picture alliance / dpa-tmn/Mascha Brichta

It is generally allowed to pick wild fruits in public areas, but there are a few things to keep in mind. In Bonn and the region, elderberries and blackberries can be found along many walking paths.

Where you may and may not pick

Blackberries and elderberries may be picked on municipal land in Bonn. This is confirmed by Isabell Klotz from the municipal press office. However, in consultation with the Parks Department, she dampens expectations. These plants are rarely found in urban parks.

Picking in the wild is not forbidden, the Federal Centre for Nutrition points out, according to the so-called hand bunch rule in the Federal Nature Conservation Act: This states in section 39 , paragraph 3: "Everyone may (...) take and appropriate wild flowers, grasses, ferns, mosses, lichens, fruits, mushrooms, tea and medicinal herbs as well as branches of wild plants from nature in small quantities for personal use in places that are not subject to a ban on entering."

The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture's contact point for food issues explicitly points out that it is not allowed to collect in nature reserves. It is also forbidden to steal fruit from neighbours, from other people's gardens or even from orchards. The GA has reported on corresponding complaints from fruit growers in recent years.

Elder contains a lot of vitamin C

Late summer is elderberry season. In the wild, black elderberry can be found mainly in hedgerows and at the edge of forests in the form of shrubs or small trees. The portal Mundraub.org has noted where wild fruits can be collected in Bonn. According to this, elderberry can be found on a walk along the Leinpfad in Bonn-Castell, and equally opposite on the other side of the Rhine in Schwarzrheindorf. According to the portal, several elderberry bushes grow on the former tracks of the Wesselbahn near Endenicher Allee. As the municipal press office confirms, noise barriers and embankments can be possible locations for elderberries and blackberries.

According to Nabu, elderberry is "one of the most versatile wild shrubs". According to the nature conservation organisation, the fruits contain 180 milligrams of vitamin C per kilo. Those who collect elderberries to make juice, jelly or jam should make sure that all the fruits are ripe, because unripe fruits, like the leaves and bark, contain the toxin sambunigrin. Eating it can lead to vomiting, mild cramps and diarrhoea. Ripe fruits are largely free of sambunigrin, but eating them raw can still cause nausea in sensitive people. Only heating above 80 degrees Celsius destroys the sambunigrin and other unpleasant substances. Recipes with elderberries are provided by Nabu.

Blackberries become „rebel blood“

Blackberries are also in season. Cornelia Löhne, scientific director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of Bonn, said of this in 2019: "Blackberries don't only grow within cities, for example on fallow land." In the region, they also thrive magnificently in commercial cultivation. The blackberry wine "Rebellenblut" from Alfter shows what the berries are made of.

If you want to harvest them yourself, but don't want to get into wine making right away, you can make blackberry liqueur yourself with little effort. Nabu describes the principle: 96-percent ethyl alcohol or neutral-tasting spirits such as grain and vodka are suitable as a carrier. Household sugar is just as suitable as jam sugar or rock candy for sweetening.

Blackberries are also easy to find in Bonn. In Ramersdorf, for example, there are lush bushes in the old Wingert. It is somewhat steep in Poppelsdorf on Hospitalweg near the Johannesschule, according to Mundraub.org. In Dransdorf, the paths around the old city nursery are ideal. Anyone who finds berries in the public areas in the city is welcome to help themselves, according to the press office.

Apples and snack hedges in Bonn

Although the Parks Department generally harvests fruit such as apples itself or organises picking campaigns, this year self-pickers have free rein. As the press office confirms, no communal picking campaigns are planned in Bonn in 2022. So anyone who wants to pick a tasty apple, plum, nut and so on from a municipal tree can do so. In addition, the city wants to make forgotten fruit shrubs such as gooseberry, cornelian cherry, chokeberry, Japanese quince, rock pear, mayberry and mahonia better known by means of "snack hedges". Walkers can find such fruits in the green space Buschdorf Rosenfeld. But the yield is not likely to be too great, according to the press office. After the dry summer, the gardeners expect the harvest to be rather meagre. According to the city, the following wild fruits are also suitable for jam: rowan, sloe, sourthorn, buckthorn and hawthorn.

Dirty, dangerous or poisonous? What collectors should look out for in wild fruits

Botanist Cornelia Löhne says: "You can eat wild fruits without hesitation. Nevertheless, walkers should not proceed thoughtlessly: "If these berries grow by the side of the road or field, possible debris from traffic or agriculture should be washed down before eating."

In general, the expert advises: "As far as (berry) fruits are concerned, you should stick to what you know." Everything else, no matter how tasty it looks, should be left alone. A "typical plant" where there can be a risk of confusion is belladonna, the scientist explained. "The fruits are cherry-sized, black and very poisonous." In the context of plant poisonings, poisonings with these berries would take a leading position. Before an infection with the fox tapeworm, the Federal Centre for Nutrition said, it helps to carefully wash fruits collected close to the ground.

Original text: Anja Wollschlaeger

Translation: Mareike Graepel

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