- Type
- Trees & Vines
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Season
- Summer
- Sowing
- Plant a sapling
Korean Bush Cherry
Prunus japonica
Anthocyanins and organic acids · red fruit the size of a Nanking cherry on a hillside shrub
The Korean bush cherry is a small shrub of hillsides and sunny slopes. Pale pink flowers open with the leaves in spring, and by summer red fruit the size of a Nanking cherry crowds the branches. Its shoots, flowers and leaves resemble a plum tree while the fruit alone stays tiny, which is how the Donguibogam described it: branch, flower and leaf all like a plum, the fruit alone like a cherry. The fruit is sweet and sour with a trace of astringency, eaten straight off the branch or put down in liquor or sugar. What the Donguibogam entered in its Wood section is not the fruit but the kernel, listed as 郁李仁 with a vernacular gloss recorded in old Korean. The kernel, though, carries the cyanogenic glycosides common to seeds of the genus Prunus and is not something to chew raw, so the only part this entry treats as food is the ripe red flesh. Planted in a yard it stays low enough to sit inside a fence line, and as the fruit colours the birds find it first.
Year-Round Calendar
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Where It Grows
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Wild population
Grows wild on lower mountain slopes and sunny hillsides throughout the country. It is not a fruit planted in fields for sale; it is picked in the hills. Harvest June, July
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- Wild population Grows wild in the mountains of Northeast China and North China, where the seed is gathered under the name Yu Li Ren.
- Wild population Grows wild in the mountains of Honshu from the centre of the island northward.
Its native range is the temperate mountain country of East Asia, spanning the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China and Japan. It is not a field crop but a shrub gathered in the hills, so there are no national production figures at all, which is why the entry is broken into three rows. Seed traded in China under the name Yu Li Ren comes not only from the Korean bush cherry (Prunus japonica) but from several species of the sanaengdo, or dwarf bush cherry, group such as P. humilis, so it should not be read as the range of a single species.
- Optimum
- 15~25℃
- Range
- 5~30℃
- Hardiness
- Hardy
It grows on sunny lower mountain slopes and in dry, stony ground. It is hardy enough to overwinter — come through the winter — outdoors in open ground even in the central inland region, and its roots rot where water collects.
Harvested 3–4 years after planting. Plant a young tree and it takes three or four years before it sets enough fruit to be worth picking. In the meantime it is kept as a tree for its spring blossom.
In Korea Nationwide
Grows wild on lower mountain slopes and sunny hillsides throughout the country. It is seldom planted and grown; most of it is picked in the hills. The fruit does not ripen all at once, so it is gathered in several passes a few days apart in June and July.
How to grow
- Light
- Full sun. In shade it flowers sparsely and sets less fruit
- Soil and depth
- Free-draining soil at least 40cm deep. Standing water damages the roots
- Spacing
- One and a half to two metres between plants. It stays chest-high but spreads sideways
- Watering
- Keep it from drying out through the first year only. Once established it carries itself on rainfall
- Feeding
- Work compost around the base in November or December after leaf fall. Heavy nitrogen builds shoots at the expense of flower buds
- Harvest
- June and July, taking only fruit that has coloured up and parts easily from the stalk. It does not ripen all at once, so pick in several passes a few days apart. The Donguibogam records gathering in the sixth lunar month
What makes the difference. Handle the fruit so the stones stay whole when putting it down in sugar or liquor. The kernel is not an edible part, so strain out any broken stones
Why this one is harder. It sets almost nothing in the year it is planted and takes three or four years to carry a pickable crop. Until then, treat it as a shrub grown for its spring flowers
Common problems
- Aphids You will see New shoot tips curl and turn sticky What to do Wash them off with a jet of water; if it recurs, use an egg-yolk oil spray. Observe pre-harvest intervals where fruit is to be picked
- Birds You will see Fruit that had just coloured up disappears overnight What to do Net the plant as the red starts to come. If netting it whole is impractical, cover a few chosen branches
- Brown rot You will see Ripening fruit goes brown and soft with a grey mould over it What to do It spreads in wet years. Pick off spoiled fruit and take it out of the plot, and thin the branches for airflow
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
The old record — ungniin (郁李仁). The Donguibogam lists the material in the Wood section as 郁李仁, with a vernacular gloss recorded in old Korean. What is entered is the kernel, not the fruit. It gives a neutral nature, a bitter and pungent taste and no toxicity. It says the plant grows everywhere, that branch, flower and leaf are all like a plum while the fruit alone is the size of a cherry, red and sweet-sour with a trace of astringency, and that the stone hardens as the fruit ripens. Fruit and root were gathered together in the sixth lunar month, and the alternative names 車下李 and 千金藤 are also recorded. This is a historical medical record and differs from modern medical judgment.
Cyanogenic glycosides in Prunus seeds. Compositional analysis confirms that the kernels of Prunus seeds, apricot and Japanese apricot among them, carry cyanogenic glycosides such as amygdalin. The Korean bush cherry belongs to the same genus. This is the ground for not treating the kernel as an edible part, and it is a record of composition.
Pigment of the red fruit. Anthocyanin pigments are identified in the skin of the ripe red fruit. The shift from green to red during ripening is what sets the picking date.
Nutrition
- Anthocyanins (pigment in the skin of the ripe fruit) — the pigment behind the red colour
- Organic acids (in the ripe flesh) — the components behind the sourness
- Amygdalin (in the kernel) — a cyanogenic glycoside common to seeds of the genus Prunus
The flesh is the only edible part What is eaten here is the ripe red flesh. The kernel carries the cyanogenic glycosides common to seeds of the genus Prunus and is not chewed raw. When putting the fruit down in sugar or liquor, handle it so the stones stay whole, and strain out any that have broken when the fruit is lifted.
Colour and acidity of the ripe fruit The colour of the ripe skin comes from anthocyanin pigments. Organic acids in the flesh set sourness alongside the sweetness, and underripe fruit runs more astringent. The Donguibogam recorded the same profile: red, sweet and sour with a trace of astringency.
Small fruit Each fruit is about the size of a Nanking cherry, so a handful yields little flesh. This is not a fruit anyone fills up on; it is picked a few at a time on a hill path, or gathered to be put down. The stone is large relative to the flesh, so pitting takes patience.
Sugar and the steep Sugar or liquor draws the juice out of the flesh. Because the fruit is small the skin makes up a high proportion of it, so the colour comes out well, though a long-kept steep drifts towards brown. Do not press or crush, so the stones stay intact.
Pairings
○ Sugar — fruit syrup — Layer washed, surface-dried fruit with sugar. The high proportion of skin gives a clean colour. Do not press it down, so the stones stay whole.
○ Steeped in liquor — Put the fruit in whole, pour over the spirit and keep it somewhere cool. Once the colour has drawn, lift the fruit out and keep only the clear liquor. Strain off any broken stones as you lift.
○ Sparkling water and ice — The syrup cut with cold or sparkling water brings the sourness forward. It is a fruit of one short summer, so the colour and aroma hold best if the batch is used within the year.
△ The kernel — never chewed raw — The kernel carries the cyanogenic glycosides common to seeds of the genus Prunus. It belongs to the same group as apricot and Japanese apricot kernels, and it is not chewed raw or ground and drunk. Handle the fruit so the stones stay whole when putting it down, and strain out any that break. In a household with children, pit the fruit and serve the flesh alone.
△ Underripe fruit — Fruit that has not coloured up is astringent and sharply sour. Take only what has softened and parts easily from the stalk. It does not ripen all at once, so pick in several passes a few days apart.
△ Picking on the hill — lookalike trees — On a hillside it is easy to confuse this with other members of the genus Prunus. The Korean bush cherry is a shrub that stays between waist and chest height, its fruit is cherry-sized and its leaf margins are finely toothed. Do not pick fruit whose species you cannot settle. And whatever the fruit, the rule that the kernel is not eaten stands.
Varieties
- Korean bush cherry (sapling) — The hillside species. The fruit ripens red
- Ishidoya bush cherry (sapling) — Finer leaves and smaller fruit, growing higher up the mountains
Source: Donguibogam, Wood Section 郁李仁 · Korea National Arboretum, Korea Biodiversity Information System