Delicious fresh snacks, berries are a perfect ice cream topper and great for snacking on out of hand. They’re also pretty fabulous in baked desserts and smoothies. Check out this list of berries and ways to use them in your kitchen! Different types of berries ripen at different times of year, but from spring to fall, farmers markets (and forests) showcase nature’s abundance.
Love fruit? Dive in and discover stone fruits, too!
Blackberries
Blackberry bushes can become huge. Because they can be quite invasive and have impressive thorns, they are often foraged for rather than cultivated in the garden.
Use them for: Jam, cobblers, pie, muffins, smoothies
Blackberry recipes to try:
Blueberries
Grow blueberries in containers on your patio and you can harvest these round berries during the summer months. Blueberry plants are thorn-free and some varieties are compact in size.
Blueberry recipes to try:
- Blueberry jam recipe (includes both a refrigerator jam and a preserved jam option)
- Blueberry French toast
- Lemon blueberry loaf cake
Boysenberries
A variety of blackberry, possibly crossed with raspberries. Boysenberries are a reddish dark purple, sweet and tangy.
Cranberries
Grown in large bogs, cranberries are an unlikely candidate for your backyard garden. These types of berries are grown commercially, though, and abundant during the fall harvest season. The red berries are quite sour and mostly used for cooking.
Cranberry recipes to try:
- Homemade cranberry sauce
- Lemon cranberry loaf cake
- Kale salad with cranberries
- White chocolate chip cookies
Elderberries
These wild berries grow on large bushes. Commonly found in stream beds and on roadsides, elderberries are popular for their medicinal properties and a favorite of foragers.
Elderberry recipes to try:
Goji berries
Considered a superfood by many, goji berries are primarily available as dried fruit. The berries are fragile and bruise easily, so if you want to try them fresh, growing goji berries at home might be the best option.
Mulberries
The product of a large, broadleaf shade tree, mulberries taste a bit like blackberries. There’s a white version, too.
Poha berries
Also known as cape gooseberry or Peruvian ground cherry, in Hawaii we call these poha berries. A member of the nightshade family, poha berries grow in a husk.
Raspberries
More easily contained than blackberries, raspberries are available as a thornless plant (recommended for home gardens!) and come in red and white varieties.
Raspberry recipes to try:
Strawberries
Low-growing strawberries produce fruit in the heat of the summer, but this pretty plant is a great groundcover to use in edible landscapes.
Strawberry recipes to try:
