The Kousa dogwood is sometimes also called "Chinese dogwood", Korean Dogwood, or Japanese dogwood , Most Commonly used for landscaping The fruit is a globose pink to red compound berry 2–3 cm in diameter, though these berries tend to grow larger towards the end of the season and some berry clusters that do not fall from the tree surpass 4 cm. It is edible, a sweet and delicious addition to the tree's ornamental value. The fruit is sometimes used for making wine source Wikipedia[/I] Very subtle and delicate fruit with large seeds, not to sweet. You need patience and appreciation for this fruit
Yep, can be delicious - I always stop to eat a few on the rare occasions I find one in fruit on my travels. Sadly, never planted around here in northern Britain (and even if it was, I suspect the summers here are too cold for it to ripen any fruit).
Cultivar 'Big Apple' was selected to be planted as a fruit tree. One I obtained as such, grew for years never cropped and was cut down recently. I suspect it was a seedling. Delectability is not a generally shared, consistent experience with this species: the fruit resembles dull raspberries of austere flavor and unpleasant texture --A.L. Jacobson, Trees of Seattle - Second Edition (2006)
I've noticed a degree of variation in the fruit quality, some barely worth eating, others delicious. Sounds like ALJ got poor specimen(s) to try. The best I've ever had was in Italy, so maybe warmer summers are important for fruit quality as well as productivity.
I've had really good ones at various sites on Vancouver Island, but these have usually been a cultivar such as 'Milky Way', not the species form which seems variable flavour-wise around here. Also planted a few 'Big Apple' a couple of years ago on account of the reputed fruit production, no crops yet. Did see the first appearance of proto-fruits this season, which lingered for a bit then dried up/aborted...
I had that happen for years. Nurseries do not always supply clones of original selections, by any means.
An update (possibly only exciting to me): actually ate a ripe fruit off one of my "Big Apple" today. It took four years and much aborted early fruits, and there was only one, but that's a 100% increase over the past. Interesting to see if successive seasons now witness more fruit, or if it's simply the lucky result of a very mild and dry Fall.
That means it produced half a fruit last year ;-) One up from none is actually an infinite % increase . . . Did it taste good?
I stand mathematically corrected. However, the implied infinite percentage increase merely reflects the magnitude of my joy at actually seeing a fruit on it, which is infinitely better than none despite being, in the grand scheme of things, virtually nothing. It was pretty good: mushy sweet like most kousa fruit I've tried.
Give my ape lineage a bunch more generations hereabouts, and we'll make it native....you said "in nature", though, and I assure you: I was in nature whilst eating it, and my race to consume it ahead of the birds very much reflected a Hobbesian 'state of nature' ('all against all'). Unless you're suggesting that I'm some sort of supernatural ape, in which case I'd prefer to be referred to by the proper term Sasquatch.