Wine Berry

Wineberry is a spiny shrub, belonging to the class of scramblers, that spreads by underground stems. This perennial produces biennial long red stems (canes) with red bristles and a few thorns. It bears pale green leaves with white undersides that turn yellow upon the arrival of spring.  It also produces small, white flowers that emerge in dense clusters.

Wineberry fruit is eaten raw all around the world. It is added to salads , desserts, sauces, jams, wines, and even pies. Its taste can be described as an extravagant raspberry venture with all its tartaric and juicier punch. Medicinally, wineberries impart remarkable antioxidant properties that help in reducing cell damage and promoting the repair of tissues. It is said to impede the occurrence of cancer (especially skin cancer and breast cancer). It is a natural source of vitamin C, making it immensely fruitful for boosting the immune system, reducing inflammation, and preventing the occurrence of various seasonal allergies. 

Unlike raspberries, they are a bit sticky to touch. They should be quickly ingested fresh or can be refrigerated to last a few days.

Wineberries are preferred to propagate through plantlets. This process can be done anytime during the dry spell of the winters as the wineberry plant is dormant at this moment. 

Wineberry plantlets are potted in well-drained sandy, loamy, or clay soil. With little to no hassle, the wineberry plant prospers on its own. If grown in woodland with dappled shade to part sun, wineberries flourish robustly.

The Wineberry plant grows very quickly, demanding very low maintenance. During its first year, the wineberry plant produces primocane (stem) that bears only leaves and leaflets and no flowers. During its second year, it gives out florican (stem) that is capable of producing tiny small flowers and pale green leaves.

These tiny flowers emerge in summers that later transform into shiny orange-red berries. These berries contain seeds that ripen from August to September and can be used to start new plants.

Wineberries should fall right into your hands with a minor tug. They should be dead ripe and must not resist to come off while conducting their harvest.

Wineberry fruits are harvested simply by hand.

Freshly harvested wineberries are washed, pat dried and stored in a freezer until hard. This way, they can last for a year.

Wineberries, as the name indicates, are used outrageously in making doctoring red wines and jams. They are fervently added to various herbal medicinal preparations to address a wide range of maladies. 

• Tincture - Dried wineberry leaves are used to prepare wineberry tincture.
• Tea - Wineberry fruit and leaves, both can be used to prepare wineberry tea.
• Decoction - Use 1 tsp of wineberry powder to make a cup of wineberry decoction. 
• Syrup - Fresh wineberries are simmered in a sugar solution to form a syrup.
• Infused oil - Dried wineberry leaves or fruits can be infused in a carrier oil of choice for 2 to 3 weeks on a sunny windowsill to prepare a wineberry infused oil.