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It's the Berries!

Oddly enough strawberries belong to the same family as roses, and so do blackberries and raspberries, but two varieties of native wild strawberries, "Virginia" and "wood," are still classed among culinary herbs although we're inclined to use them only as fruits. They do wonders to such long cool drinks as a May Bowl and their leaves are brewed into an herb tea that's supposed to be slimming. But before we leave the Rosaceae family, including fruits such as the cherry, peach, plum, and the almond, although we call it a nut, we'd like to point out that the sweet, meaty kernels of these, a few at a time, put piquance into salads, drinks, and preserves.

Other berries, all unrelated, are the mulberry; the juniper, chiefly for flavoring gin; the spice berry or checkerberry which is the wintergreen that puts the snap in chewing gum; and last but not least that good old elderberry whose blossoms, called elderblow, are dipped in egg batter and elegantly frittered, or made into wine, which is likewise the chief use of the ripe berries, though they also work wonders in pie.