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How to identify, harvest, and use Kousa dogwood fruit
Late summer hides one of its strangest fruits in plain sight.Those bumpy orange-red fruits on landscape Kousa dogwoods can be delicious—but only after you have positively identified the tree and learned what ripe fruit looks and feels like. 
How to identify, harvest, and eat Kousa dogwood fruitIn our Greenville, South Carolina area, the fruit typically begins ripening in late August. Ripe fruit is orange-red, slightly soft rather than squishy, and releases easily from the tree—or falls on its own. Identification matters: never eat any wild or unfamiliar fruit unless you are 100% certain of its identity and edibility. Native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) produces small red fruits that are mildly poisonous to humans; this guide is specifically about edible Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa). 
Turn the fruit into a pudding cakeOnce the rough skins and seeds are removed, Kousa fruit pulp becomes the star of a soft, gooey pudding cake finished with lemon zest and nutmeg. Get the Kousa pudding-cake recipe → Happy foraging, Aaron & Susan
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Tyrant Farms
We're educators and bloggers focused on the topics of raising pet/backyard ducks, no-dig organic gardening & rare edible plants, foraging, wild recipes, and related topics. Subscribe and join thousands of newsletter readers every week!
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