Harvest & Use
European chestnuts are the common supermarket ones. Chestnuts differ from most nuts in a number of ways: they are higher in vitamin C and lower in protein, contain more water and less oil (making them more difficult to store), and are starchier, making them good for flour and as a potato substitute. Chestnuts are traditionally used to fatten pigs, children, etc. The timber is multi-purpose: It has high fuel-value, resists rot, and rives well.
Appearance
Long leaves turn gold at the end of summer; fragrant yellow catkins cover the chestnut in drooping clusters (some would find "stinky" more accurate than "fragrant"). The European chestnut is taller and less spreading than the American chestnut.
Cultivation
Chestnuts of all species require very little care. The chestnut weevil can be a problem, mainly in the eastern US. The European chestnut is susceptible to the blight Endothia parasitica which decimated the American chestnut. 400-750 chill hours.
Comment
The European chestnut originated around the Mediterranean. The popular and genus names come from the Greek name for the nut, "kastanŽa," which comes from the city Castanea in Asia Minor, presumably known for its chestnuts. A number of hybrids of Chinese, Japanese, European, and American species are available; they are presumably blight resistant, but not always tested. Chinapkins (genus Castanopsis) are probably the evolutionary ancestor of chestnuts and oaks: They have nuts like chestnuts and twigs like oaks.
Cultivars of Repute
Information about who will pollinize whom in the world of chestnut hybrids is difficult to come by; prudence suggests pairing trees of similar heritage.
* European X Chinese:
Layeroka: pollen sterile.
Skookum: pollen sterile.
Skioka: good pollinizer.
* Japanese X European:
Colossal: large nuts, a common cultivar.
Precoce Migoule: early ripening, good pollinizer.
Maraval: late-ripening, large nuts; good pollinizer; blight resistant, hardy to zone 5.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]

Harvest & Use
Chives are miniature onions, so miniature that you harvest the leaves and flowers and leave the bulbs. They are high in calcium, vitamins A and C; they contain less sulfur than onions. Chives are alleged to aid digestion. They are usually used fresh or lightly cooked on the grounds that heavy cooking reduces the flavor; nobody seems to recommend the flowers any way other than fresh. Suggested storage is chilled in an airtight container. Garlic chives, AKA Chinese chives, (A. tuberosum) taste garlicky; their flowers attract bees.
Appearance
Chives grow in clumps from nine to twenty inches tall. The leaves are blue-green, grasslike, round and hollow; they are evergreen in mild climates. The flowers come in late summer, and are pink or rosy purple, and clover-like if not cut. Garlic chives (A. tuberosum) produce white flowers in autumn, have flatter stems, and grow slightly taller.
Cultivation
Chives will grow in poor soil, but rich soil increases yield noticeably. PH should be between 6 and 7. Seeds can be sown directly outdoors about three weeks before last frost; garlic chives self-sow readily and often become weedy. Chives will need thinning every three years or so; the bulbs can be used like onions. Onions are often intercropped with carrots, because they reduce each other's pests; this should work with chives too (assuming it really works at all; some studies reject the pest-reduction claims of intercropping). They are best propagated by division in early spring.
Comment
Onion, leek, chive, and garlic are members of the family Lilicae. Gypsies allegedly used chives in their fortune telling rites. Chives probably evolved in Siberia; the Spanish introduced them to the New World.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]

Harvest & Use
The chokeberry berry is commonly used in fruit juices, blended or diluted to reduce the tartness. Eating out of hand isn't recommended. The berry is reputed to contain chemicals which strengthen the cardiovascular system. A. melanocarpa is also high in pectin. The name "chokeberry" comes from a tendency of some Aronia species to choke birds. That mean-spirited fruit does not appear to be A. melanocarpa, however, since several sources describe it as attracting song- and game-birds. It tends to colonize, making it useful for wildlife shelter. Average yield from a mature plant under ideal conditions exceeds 20 lbs.
Appearance
Black chokeberry is a deciduous shrub, typically growing to six feet, slightly wider than tall at maturity. It produces suckers and forms a thicket, although not so invasively as some of its cousins. Flowers are smooth, small and pink-white, borne in clusters. Berries are half-inch wide or less, hanging from red pedicles in clusters of ten or so, sometimes into winter. The foliage is smooth, dark, and oval, although the lower third of the plant is generally bare ("leggy"). In most varieties, the foliage turns flame-colored in the fall, contrasting with the dark berry clusters.
Cultivation
The black chokeberry prefers swampy, low woodlands, but sometimes grows in drier environments. Generally, it is not choosey about about where it will settle, and has few pests. Like many woodland shrubs it tolerates part-shade. Black chokeberry is insect-pollinated, but will sometimes set parthencarpic fruit (without pollination, i.e., immaculately). Propagtion: rooted suckers, seed, and softwood cuttings are common methods.
Comment
The genus Aronia belongs to the Rosaceae family. Aronia includes a number of plants known as chokeberries. They are not to be confused with the chokecherry, a Prunus species. The black chokeberry, A. melanocarpa, is the most pleasing to one's tongue and stomach. Chokeberry species are indigenous to northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia to Michigan to northern Florida. But, Aronia have not been commercially cultivated in the U.S. since the turn of the century, and the scarce home cultivation has been mainly for ornamental effect. A. melanocarpa today is much more popular in Eastern Europe and Russia (especially Siberia) than its native land. One company is attempting to sell "Aronia juice" in the United States. The Wildland juice company's Web site ( http://www.aronia.com) says:

The Aronia berry has all of the wellness attributes of the cranberry as well as five to ten times the amount of anthocyanins and polyphenols of a cranberry.... New evidence published in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 339, No. 15) suggests that juices high in anthocyanins (proanthocyanidins) help maintain a healthy urinary tract.

An anonymous source (cited at http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-324.html#chokeberry) says black chokeberry is high in: "phenols, leucoanthocyanins, catachines, flavonoles, and flavones that are considered to be bioactive in humans."
Cultivars of Repute
'Viking' is commonly mentioned; 'Autumn Magic' is a popular ornamental selection. 'Nero' is a small shrub, reported to be disease resistant and with fruit that can be eaten fresh.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]

Harvest & Use
Most cold-hardy citrus are acidic, best used for preserves, in juices, or any way you might use a lemon; adding calcium to the soil is rumored to slightly sweeten the fruit. For a wild time, try grapefruit broiled with maple syrup and cinnamon. The pungent element in the peel of citrus fruit is d-Limonene, also naturally occuring in Coca-Cola (that's a joke). Most citrus will ripen off the tree.
Appearance
Most citrus species have glossy green leaves. Grapefruit trees have light green foliage, whereas citrus more closely related to the common orange has dark green foliage. Some varieties are deciduous in the colder parts of their range, or when they are moved between the indoors and the out.
Cultivation
In areas with late spring frosts, citrus should be planted against a low north wall or other spot that blocks the low winter sun but not the high summer one, thus stabilizing winter dormancy without denial of sun during the growing season. Tree wraps and mulches help. Dehydration from wind poses another danger. Citrus store more energy in their leaves than most plants (most perennials store it almost exclusively in their roots), so heavy pruning is generally not recommended. All citrus are undone by soggy soil. Fertilize after the last frost in spring.
Comment
Citrus are native to southeast Asia. They entered the Middle East in the early days of civilization, spread to Iberia with rise of Islam, and crossed the Atlantic with Columbus. Women should only be allowed near a citrus tree when they are pure, lest their presence cause the plant to blacken and die (the precise definition of "pure" exceeds the scope of this work--consult an ancient Islamic scholar for details).
Species of Repute
* Citrange: A cross between common orange and trifoliate orange, growing to 12', thorned, with juicy acidic fruit good for juices and marmalade. Hardy to 10ˇ F; evergreen in warm end of zone 8. 'Snow Sweet' (a new variety) and 'Morton' are the only varieties suitable for fresh eating.
* Citrangequat: a kumquat-citrange cross with 2" fruit ripening in late October. The juice is acidic, flavorful and makes good marmalade. Citrangequats have a deeper dormancy than most citrus, making them a good choice for areas with erratic spring weather, prone to early warm periods intermixed with late frosts. 'Thomasville' is hardy to 5ˇ F when established. 'Sinton' is ornamental.
* Ichandarin: hardy to 5ˇ F, growing to 12' outdoors or 6' in container. 'Yuzu' is a slow growing variety with lemon-lime flavor. 'Sudachi' grows faster and ripens earlier.
* Mandarin: cold-hardy varieties tolerate lows of 10ˇ F. 'Changsha' is an early ripening selection. 'Keraji' has fewer seeds and ripens in November.
* Obobo: a grapefruit cultivar rumored hardy to 10ˇ F.
General References
* Grigson [R,L]
* The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John McPhee has written a book about the story of the orange, and to a lesser extent citrus in general: it is called Oranges.
* Oregon Exotics Nursery specializes in hardy citrus.

Harvest & Use
Cornelian cherries are very high in vitamin C, and about as acid as you'd want for fresh eating. The fruit is often used (when it is used at all) as a glaze for meat; the Turks flavor sherbet with it. It makes a tangy sauce. The unripe fruits have been pickled in brine like olives since ancient times; they are also preserved in sugar or honey. The Greek physician Dioscorides (contemporary with Augustus) recommended pickled cornels in the treatment of dysentery and various digestive ills. Space the plants 12' apart for a hedge. The wood is extremely hard, with high fuel value. The fruit attracts many birds. The American goldfinch, robin, cedar waxwing, hermit thrush, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, scarlet tanager, and wood thrush nest in dogwoods (Ortho: 32-33). Dogwoods are larval food for the spring azure butterfly. (The Cornelian cherry is a species of dogwood.)
Appearance
The small flowers come very early on leafless branches of the previous year's growth; they are yellow, tiny, and profuse, generating a yellow mist-like effect. Bright green leaves appear early in spring, slightly later than currants, and turn red in fall. The fruit is scarlet and shaped like an olive. The tree is often multi-trunked.
Cultivation
The Cornelian cherry is easy to grow in either full sun or light shade. It can be propagated by layering, soft- or hard-wood cuttings, and seed.
Comment
The Cornelian cherry is not a true cherry, but a member of the dogwood family. According to Simmons and some others, the Trojan Horse was built from Cornelian cherry wood; according to Aeneas it was built from pine (but what would he know). Homer says fir.... it almost makes you not believe in the whole thing. I want to go off on a tangent now. Robert Graves says Homer invented the legend of Trojan horse: "...to explain a no longer intelligible icon showing a walled city, a queen, a solemn assembly, and the sacred king in the act of rebirth, head first, from a mare...." Is patriarchy bizzare or what? Before Circe made me her personal love-slave she turned my men into hogs and fed them cornelian cherries. Coincidentally, she did the exact same thing to Odysseus: "And Circe tossed them acorns, mast, and cornel berries--fodder for hogs who rut and slumber on earth." (The Odyssey). That witch just keeps playing the same game. Plutarch's biography of Romulus mentions the cornelian cherry (cornel):

The princes did not immediately join in council together, but at first each met with his own hundred; afterwards all assembled together. Tatius dwelt where now the temple of Moneta stands, and Romulus, close by the steps, as they call them, of the Fair Shore, near the descent from the Mount Palatine to the Circus Maximus. There, they say, grew the holy cornel tree, of which they report, that Romulus once, to try his strength, threw a dart from the Aventine Mount, the staff of which was made of cornel, which struck so deep into the ground, that no one of many that tried could pluck it up, and the soil being fertile, gave nourishment to the wood, which sent forth branches, and produced a cornel stock of considerable bigness. This did posterity preserve and worship as one of the most sacred things; and therefore walled it about; and if to any one it appeared not green nor flourishing, but inclining to pine and wither, he immediately made outcry to all he met, and they, like people hearing of a house on fire, with one accord would cry for water, and run from all parts with buckets full to the place. But when Caius Caesar, they say, was repairing the steps about it, some of the labourers digging too close, the roots were destroyed, and the tree withered.

Monasteries grew the cornel throughout the Middle Ages, as did Turks, not only for food, but for the dye in the bark with which they dyed their fezes.
Cultivars of Repute
Breeding the cornelian cherry for fruit production is a recent endeavor, at least in the West. Most named varieties are Russian or Ukranian; unfortunately, the names tend to be changed or "creatively" translated when brought to the West, making identification difficult. Typical names are 'Red Stone', 'Red Star', and just plain 'Russian'. One Green World and Oregon Exotics specialize in rare Eurasian edibles.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]
* Grigson [R,L]
* Reich [C, L]
* Simmons [C, L]