Did you know that UBC’s Point Grey campus is literally full of free food? The catch is that it’s all fruit. But that’s hardly a downside. After all, fruits are a great way to get your supply of antioxidants, vitamins, and fibers in. They’re fairly portable, and they have numerous uses in cooking.
During my time at UBC, I’ve had the privilege of trying several different local fruits. Here, I’ll rank them from my least favourites to my favourites. For the purpose of brevity, I’ll stick to lesser-known fruits that are grown locally, either at a commercial level, or commonly enough in the wild that I can find them within walking distance of UBC’s Point Grey Campus (mostly along Chancellor Boulevard). With that said, here’s how I think Vancouver’s fruits stack up against each other:
C-Tier: Passable Produce
Salal berries
Gaultheria shallon
I didn’t even realize these were edible the first time I encountered them. They have a leathery, fuzzy skin, very little flesh or juice, and a ton of tiny seeds inside. Interestingly, they’re apparently an appetite suppressant, and are said to improve when cooked, but for now I have to leave them in C-tier.
Image by Carlo von Reyher on Unsplash
Salmon berries
Rubus spectabilis
These gold or red berries are a lot like blackberries, but they have much larger seeds and seem to be available for a longer period of time throughout the year. That said, they don’t get sweet like blackberries do, and I already find blackberries a little too seedy for my tastes, so I can’t place these higher than the top of C-tier.
Image by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
B-Tier: Middle of the Bunch
Blackberries
Rubus armeniacus
These berries taste amazing, and you can pick them all along Chancellor Boulevard between early July and mid-September for free. That said, the wild ones are usually full of bugs. It can take a lot of effort to get rid of them, and commercially available blackberries are usually expensive. Regardless, blackberries are a solid BC staple and great to pick yourself during the summer in order to stock up for the winter.
Image by Amanda Hortiz on Unsplash
Blueberries
Vaccinium corymbosum
All the benefits of blackberries, without the downsides. Blueberries are easier to clean, much less seedy, and freeze better. Overripe blueberries are especially gross, but that’s easy enough to avoid.
Image by Élisabeth Joly on Unsplash
A-Tier: A-peel-ing
Huckleberries
Vaccinium parvifolium
This is another one of those berries that you can pick around campus, but that aren’t really commercially sold. Huckleberries are like blueberries, but they’re smaller, tarter, and go bright scarlet when ripe. As far as the eating experience goes, they’re pretty much on par with blueberries in my opinion, but their availability near campus gives them a leg up.
Image by Peer Assistant Ethaniel
Cherries
Prunus avium
Did you know that BC produces 95% of Canada’s cherries? There’s definitely no need for anyone else to try, because we do it right. Cherries are delicious, raw or cooked, and provide myriad vitamins and antioxidants such as anthocyanids, Vitamin A, and quercetin. They’re held out of S-tier by their high cost, but are otherwise a quintessential BC experience that I refuse to rank anything lower than A-tier.
Image by Burak Tonç on Unsplash
S-Tier: The Berry Best
Thimbleberries
Rubus parviflorus
These are my absolute favourite foraging fruit. They’re too fragile to survive commercial transport and so aren’t available in grocery stores, but you can find them all over campus, including on the west side of the Irving K. Barber building! They’re super sweet with a texture kind of like raspberries, though the seeds are much smaller and almost imperceptible when chewing.
Image by Leslie Seaton on Wikimedia
Golden plums
Prunus salicina (specifically the golden Japanese variety)
A family friend of mine grows these in her backyard, and I remember trying them on vacation here when I was a kid. When I moved to BC from Alberta later on in life, these plums were a distinct reason I was looking forward to living here. They’re a complete mess to eat, but that’s more than made up for by the delicious contrast between the sweet flesh and delightfully tart skin.
Image by Forest and Kim Starr on Flickr
…Hey, you made it to the end of my rankings! I hope you learned something new about the amazing and bountiful fruits available on and around campus. Let us know what your favourite fruits are in the comments below!
.jpg){kind=link}