Berbe-what?
Since Jena is a small-ish town our local market has a few quite good stalls but not much variety. Lucky for me, every now and then new stands appear for one or two weeks and are then off to another market. Some of these are really nice, like the one we had last week, selling a huge choice of dried fruit. After some thought I picked a few: dried persimmons, mango, peaches and sour cherries (my favourites, both sweet and sour). After tasting some, I also got a little bag of those little red berries you see in the foreground. And here I need your help. These come from Iran and are the fruits of a shrub. I couldn't really make up their name on the shield. They're called somethings close to berbenits or berbemits, couldn't read the handwriting so well. They're quite tart and can be used for tea. Any clue what they could be? Thanks!
hmmm...maybe rosehips (often used in tea, quite tart), or redcurrants, or cranberries????
Posted by:kitschenette | March 09, 2004 at 08:29 PM
look like dried cranberries to me, with which I have an intimate relationship as I suffer from cystitis. The fact that they're used in tea, however, would suggest haws, or rosehips, as mentioned in a previous post. Being Austrian, a German word springs to mind, "Berberitze" or English "barberry", but I have to admit that I have no idea what they are, what they taste like or what you use them for... but given the name, I guess this is your best bet!?
Posted by:johanna | March 10, 2004 at 02:10 PM
definitely cranberries. i have a bag from trader joe's and they are twins!
Posted by:sharon | March 10, 2004 at 03:13 PM
Thanks for all the helpfull guesses. Cranberries they aren't: the stall had dried cranberries for sale. I think Johanna is right. It's probably Berberitze or barberry. Haven't tried tea yet but they're OK with cornflakes and muesli or plain, if you like sour tastes. I'm actually thinking of using them sprinkled on pilaf rice... I'll let you know.
Posted by:Alberto | March 10, 2004 at 05:04 PM
I think these are called zereshk or zereshg.
Don't ask me how I know- I've never tasted them.
Look here:
http://sadaf.com/store/product108.html
Posted by:Gabi | March 11, 2004 at 05:53 PM
Gabi, thanks that's exactly what I bought!
Posted by:Alberto | March 12, 2004 at 08:37 AM
Is this the same as "sumac"?
Posted by:Tilli (Mojave Desert) | March 14, 2004 at 10:53 PM
Tilli, berberries are not summac. After the helpful pointers left from the other readers I've made some research (helpful sometimes to have a big University library at your disposal!) and found out a bit mora about this plant. Berberry plants (berberis vulgaris) parts (leaves)are usual used as herbal drugs. The berries are tiny and i could only find some reference to their use in tea or Iranian Pulao. Summac belongs to a different family altogether, it is a relative of cashew. More info's here:
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Rhus_cor.html
Posted by:Alberto | March 15, 2004 at 09:04 AM