Dogwood Jelly

 When we arrived at our hotel last week, we parked as seen here.  I immediately spotted the pretty little tree behind the hedge, but I did not know it.  I asked the host what it was and he replied that it was some kind of dogwood.

I believed that could be so, as I am familiar with three or four dogwood varieties, but this one was different.

Note the knobby texture of the rind of the fruit. Interesting.  To the internet!  Easily found.  It is a kousa dogwood.  It was recommended that one grab the fruit before the wild things consume them!

With permission from the hostess, we brought a small bucketful of them home with us, and thus it was that we found ourselves in another jelly-making project.

The yield was but three half-pints, but yum yum!  

The fruit is tasty, if interesting, eaten directly from the tree.  Sort of an applesimmon flavor, contains one cherry-pit size seed; but it also has some teeny tiny gritty seeds(?) .  The rind really needs to be spit out-- too tough to eat.  A less-than-fully-ripe fruit has a bit of an alum-quality, but the ripe ones are quite pleasant.


 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. . . Genesis 2:9