Oregon grape

Berberis aquifolium · Berry

40 pairings

Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium, long known as Mahonia aquifolium) is a small, intensely tart, dusty blue-purple berry from an evergreen shrub native to western North America. Despite the name it is not a grape at all but a member of the barberry family, eaten cooked into jelly, jam and wine rather than out of hand.

Picking a good onedrag

UnderripeOverripe

Blue under bloomFully coloured but still firm and sharply acid. The classic jelly picking, and the point where colour and clean sharpness are both at their best.Best for jelly

Colour and bloomBlue-purple through, heavy grey bloom

The squeezeFirm, a slight give under the thumb

Grip on the clusterCluster holds, a berry or two loose

Smell in the tubFaint tart fruit, clean

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 3× longer than the counter.

Humidity

95%

Damp air, dry skin. Never wash before storing — free water sitting on that waxy bloom is where grey mould gets in.

Airflow

Vented, never sealed damp

Shallow in a vented punnet, cooled quickly. Sealed up damp they sweat, and Botrytis takes the crushed berries first.

Preparing