Berry tree in yard

[jonyfries]

My 3 year old may (or may not) have just eaten a berry from a tree in a house we just moved into in Vermont.

Can anyone let me know what kind of tree this is and if the berries are poisonous?

 

[Jonny]

Some kind of crabapple I think.
If it is, the fruit is safe.

 

[Reach]

I do believe that is a Crabapple. He probably will make funny faces, and might have a stomachache if he eats a few (but likely won’t, they don’t taste good!) but he should be just fine.

 

[oldoakman]

Crab apple jelly is really good.

 

[jonyfries]

The size of the berry is about a half inch diameter. I was thinking crabapples would be more in the 2-3 inch range but I just did a search for crabapple size and it looks like they really are that small.

Thanks everyone!

She claims she was just eating a rock while sitting under the tree so I'm not 100% sure if she ate them or not but so far about 3 hours later she isn't complaining of any ill effects. I don't know much of anything about plants and we've been trying to get an arborist to come out and look at all the trees to make sure they're healthy and be sure of what all of the berries we have in our new yard are but unfortunately everyone's too busy and we can't even get a call back!

 

[Shane Courville]

Rocks are yummy ……

 

[dmonn]

I agree with Shane. You just need to be careful about which rock you chew on. Granite is pretty tough on the teeth. Limestone not so much.

 

[Reach]

Crab apple jelly is really good.

I forgot about that! My mother made some the other year, and it really was good. She said she’s not going to do it again though, it was too much work. Crabapples are just too small. I saw a hard cider at the state fair the other year that was made with crabapples in it as one of the apples, to add a different flare. It was supposed to be pretty good.

 

[ATH]

I've tasted some pretty good crabapples...nice tart flavor. I'd imagine they'd add some nice accent to many apple recipes.

 

[jonyfries]

My wife's grandmother would make pectin for jellies from crabapples. I don't know if that needs to be a particular kind of crabapple tree though.

 

[jonyfries]

"Don't eat the dirt off your shoes." "Don't lick the dog." "Don't eat rocks."

Things I never thought I'd have to say until I had a child.

 

[Treezybreez]

Today it was "Don't lick the chair with bird poop on it".

 

[evo]

My dad was very proud of the phrase he coined. “Kid, every time I turned around you had a rock in your mouth. Gave me a heart attack every damn time. You ate so many rocks I was sure you’d, shit a brick!”