Wild service tree fruit my new favourite fruit

[awarner]

Finally managed to try the elusive wild service tree fruit and I have to say it's now my favourite fruit with an apple/date sweet flavour. I've never tried making jam of any kind so will probably leave that for another day or year, as the fruit is already so sweet would you really want to add sugar to it for jam making process as I can see it being far too sweet then.

I've seen a recipe for making a vodka drink which includes pounding the fruit and leaving it for a few weeks but I would presume you need to remove the seeds before pounding as they contain hydrogen cyanide.

Next step is to try and grow some from seed which should not be a problem as the trees are native to my woods and grow really well.

So if you have never tried this delicious fruit before, hunt down a tree if you can and give the fruit a go. Normally you will only find windfalls as the fruits are hard to reach, and only eat them when they are on the turn so nice and soft otherwise they are like a crab apple but far worse.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

They actually grow well from suckers and it gives you a couple of years head start on getting your tree......struggle a bit here on the Lincolnshire coast to get them to ripen plus on the odd occasion that there is a crop it's generally at about the same time as the migratory birds start to arrive so with Deer getting to the windfalls, birds eating them on the tree and not enough summer most years to get a reasonable ripened crop they tend not to be common.

D.B.

 

[scarfell]

I remember reading a while ago that the seeds contain a precursor to Cyanide, not cyanide itself (although still potentially dangerous at the right dose), and that fermentation destroys it; dont take my word for that lol but might give you a starting point to find out more in google

Lots of fruits have cyanid in, including seeds of apples, but in such small quantities it doesnt matter unless you gorge on them; many other things we eat contain cyanid, and another deadly poison Arsenic

 

[John Fenna]

There are only about four reachable fruits on my local tree..... nice though

 

[Tengu]

Never seen such a tree, though as it likes milder climes I suspect there are many in Cornwall...

 

[Robson Valley]

Since common names tend to be so regional and meaningless. anyone got the proper, formal Latin name for this?
The values in economic botany might stretch back many thousands of years if we all used the same name for the plant.

 

[awarner]

Wild Service Tree is not really a regional name but the only other name that sometimes get used is checkers tree, these are as "meaningless" as calling an apple tree and apple tree the name is used in all tree identification books that I have. The Wild Service Tree is getting quite rare especially in the UK, the probable reason you have not heard of it before is that it is not native to your area.
The scientific name is Sorbus torminalis.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

The wild Service was once quite common and cultivated in some areas of the UK and the fruits used to flavour Beer (prior to Hops taking over) hence the once common pub name (in said areas) of 'The Chequers/checkers' named after the fruit. An old farming neighbour of mine used to collect the 'clusters' of unripe fruits and they would be hung on sticks in the kitchen from pan racks etc. as they ripened he and his siblings would pick them off and eat them like sweets.

D.B.

 

[Wayne]

Oh, How i hate you I have been searching for a wild service tree for 20 years. I still haven't come across one growing naturally.

Im glad youre enjoying your find.

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks for the Latin name. Makes it far easier for me to research to learn a little more.
Thanks for some tantalyzing stories, too. My interests in economic botany are unrestricted to plant origins.

Amelanchier alnifolia with it's subspecies and variants is sometimes called Service Berry here.
Sloppy shortening and it well could show up as a "Service" tree.

Might be a plan to attempt to start some cuttings from the youngest spring growth.
I suggest 0.4% IBA "rooting compound" might encourage rooting as it does for reluctant woods.
IBA is Indole Butyric Acid, a synthetic version of a natural plant growth substance.
I do that to grow and sell 60-100 new & frost hardy grape vines each summer.

 

[Robson Valley]

Did some reading. Apparently, Service trees (Sorbus torminalis) propagate easily from suckers.
Seeds usually fail, either unmatured or overwhelmed by fungi.

That way, you get new trees genetically identical with the tree above you.
Knowing no more, I'd start 50 in 750ml pots, just to see what happens.
Anything like a date is worth growing.