Kousa Dogwood, an edible ornamental tree

If you live in a city, now is the time to walk carefully around the beautiful neighborhoods of your town. People may have planted Kousa dogwood, a gorgeous ornamental tree planted for its long blooming white flowers. The flowers now gone, the Kousa Dogwood  is now sporting its delicious edible fruit.

Kousa Dogwood Fruit

It will be red and soft when ripe. Once ripe it is a sweet and creamy gold color inside. The unripe fruit is astringent, but like persimmon once the fruit is soft and ripe it loses all astringency and becomes sweet. There are some hard seeds to avoid, but other than that this is a delightful treat. I don’t eat the skin; I simply pull the fruit open and eat out the gold creamy inside. It is kid approved as well - we found these at the church of my daughter’s brownie troop meeting and she gave them the thumbs up!

Other ornamental trees dropping fruit and nuts these days include American paw paw, black walnut, and hickory, which can all be found in the wild as well.

Happy hunting!

~ Melissa

Food Under Foot