Give us all a break. You were the one who posed an unclear OP, and now seem to have some kind of problem that people have been answering the question(s) you actually asked, instead of the one you thought you asked. And it’s you who began quibbling about semantics.
Let me get this straight…
The song Gob Bless America is about the entire western hemisphere?
Or could it perhaps be about America?
Let’s make that God Bless America.
Gob bless america might very well be about the western hemisphere.
Concord grapes are a hybrid strain, developed in Concord, Mass, but they were developed from native american strains, which grew very well in the “harsh American environment”, thank you very much. As I learned from countless winery tours (I knew they’d come in handy sometime), there were many strains of grapes growing here, all labrusca. The European varieties were vinifera (literally “wine-making”). Unfortunately, American Phylloxera got into the European varieties and threatened to kill them off. The native labrusca was immune.
Besides Concord, native American grape varieties include Catawba, Delaware, Seneca, and others. They have distinctive tastes. Probably they’re all hybrids. But, as other posters above have noted, grapes certainly were native to the Americas.
I was in a bit of a rush, so I left off some things I’d added to my other list. So yes, Gaultheria shallon is native, and one of the more obvious, Cranberries are too (they’re also a part of the vaccinum family). Prickly pear is another (called “tuna” in Spanish). Saguaro also have edible fruits, but these require either a cherry picker, or the native way - using poles made from the woody ribs of fallen Saguaro.
Mayhaw - Crataegus aestivalis
The big fruit families in the United States seem to be:
Rubus - includes the aggregate fruits like balckberries, raspberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries
Prunus - The various native cherries
Vaccinum - blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries
Ribes - the fruits are edible, although they seem to have been either boiled or dried by the natives. Currants and Gooseberries are the major members of this family, although the ones we typically use commercially or in home gardens are European types, but the Native species have their uses.
Vitis - has several representatives, and the family, Vitaceae includes edible members.
Some native fruits require processing to make them edible, such as Heteromeles arbutifolia - Toyon, whose fruits contain cyanide compounds (So i’ve read… either way they’re bitter when uncooked) which are destroyed with cooking. They were made into puddings and cakes by settlers. It is a member of the rose family.
Such as Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana).
Ok, I’ll try to explain this more simply. Words can have more than one meaning. The word “America” has several different meanings. You did not make clear in your OP which meaning you intended.
From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary
As you can see, “America” has three distinct meanings. In fact, the meaning you seem to have intended, the United States of America, is only the third meaning listed, and so is not considered the most basic one. Your question, as it was phrased, properly could be taken to be about fruits native to either of the American continents, or to the western hemisphere in general. (Note that meaning 2 applies to both the word “America” itself and the phrase “the Americas.”)
This is an international message board. You shouldn’t expect that the narrowest meaning of “America” is going to be the one assumed by everyone on it. You can’t blame people for answering the question you asked, rather than the question you thought you were asking.
Hmm. I’ve never heard of the berries being processed to be eaten. The young greens yes. Fruits, no. I’ve heard they’re not as toxic as people think though.
Like Heteromeles, Pyracantha (also int he rose family) can be processed and eaten as a jam or jelly, or even wine I hear.
Poke Berries are related to the massive South American Ombu trees, Phytolacca dioica, whicha re considered sentinels of the pampas by Gauchos in Argentina. The trees are massive, grow incredibly fast, and have thick massive trunks. Compared tot he shrubby mostly herbaceous character of P. americana.
Another native in the heath family (ericaceae) is Arctostaphylos - Manzanita, which is represented mainly in California. A. uva-ursi , the bear berry is found in the northwest. The fruits can be eaten raw, but i’ve found them to be a bit dry and tart. They’re usually cooked, dried and ground into flour, or mixed with water and made into cider, but the fruits are edible.
Rhamnus species (Buckthorn) are edible, but in small quantities. The berries of R. crocea i’ve read can turn your skin RED if eaten in too large a quantity. R. californica is commonly called the coffeeberry because the mucilaginous fruits leave a slightly sweet coffee aftertaste, but if you ate too many they become a natural laxative. The seeds can apparently be roasted and ground for a coffee substitute (as it seems with a LOT of seeds!).
I’ve discovered even MORE native fruits (All from California)
Lonicera - Honeysuckle : the berries of these are said to be sweet and edible, but seedy
Cornus nuttalli - California Dogwood
Sorbus californica, S. scopulina - Mountain Ash : fruits edible raw, cooked, or dried, but said to be bitter until after the first few frosts (reminds me of how medlar are processed)
Comandra umbellata - Bastard Toad Flax (related to Sandalwood, and like sandalwood, semi-parasitic): has edible fruit, said to be best when slightly green
Berberis pumila - Barberry: the fruits are edible. I’ve seen packages of Asian species sold and used like raisins.
Pokeberry wine
Pokeberry jelly
Apparently the toxin in the fruit is concentrated in the seed portion. Here’s a bit on the toxins, and also photos of the Ombu tree. As with many ‘poisonous’ plants, there are wildly varying claims as to how toxic the stuff is. The worst I’ve seen is a claim that as few as 10 berries can cause massive gastrointestonal uspet in a child.
That aside, while the berries aren’t bitter or anything, they’re just not very tasty either; little blobs of purple goo that are better at staining your hands than tingling your taste buds.
Thanks for correcting me.
Madrone fruits are the same way, a bit mealy due to the grainy skin, but not much more than a goey glob that is sweetish and seedy. I hear wine is made out of the fruit in Spain, IIRC (of the European species - Arbutus unedo).