‘Tis the season for blueberries and raspberries in the US, and ’tis the season for yangmei in China. These little purplish red berries with a knobbly surface are all over the indoor and outdoor markets here in southern China, and I’m sure I’ll find them in Beijing when I get back. They are also known as yamamomo in Japanese and red bayberry or waxberry in English. A new juice company has rechristened them as “yumberries”, since cute names tend to sell previously unknown or odd-sounding foods (calamari, anyone?)
The poor berry has so many personalities that I’ll henceforth refer to it as yangmei, as the Chinese has known it for ages. The taste is more tart than raspberries and blackberries, more like pomegranate juice. There’s a pit inside the size of a cherry’s. They are loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants and make a perfect snack for anyone under the weather, like I am right now.
After reading about the new Yumberry juice that aims to be the new Pom, I decided that the tart and slightly sweet yangmei would be ideal in an iced tea. Besides, little shops around southern China that sell medicinal teas offer yangmei juice as a “cooling” thirst-quencher.
If you can’t get your hands on yangmei, you can also adapt the recipe for raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries; just use less sugar. Blueberries would need less cooking time, 10 minutes instead of 15. For yangmei, start with 1 cup sugar to 4 cups fruit while cooking the fruit, and add more later to suit your palate.
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Yangmei Orange Iced Tea
(see above on using other berries)
Makes 4 to 5 servings
4 cups fresh yang mei berries (also called bayberries, waxberries, yumberries), rinsed and drained
4 cups water
1 cup sugar, more as needed
3 to 4 bags green tea
1 cup orange juice
Ice cubes
Bring water to boil in a large saucepan. Add berries and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Once they start to cook and soften, crush them against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula. Towards the end of the 15 minutes, add sugar and stir slowly to dissolve. Remove pan from heat and let stand to cool, about 15 to 30 minutes.
Strain the juice through a fine sieve into a small sauce pot, pressing on the solids. Discard the solids. Bring juice to a simmer. Remove from heat, add tea bags, and let steep for 5 to 7 minutes. Discard the teabags and let cool to room temperature.
In a pitcher, mix together berry tea with orange juice. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Chill in fridge for up to 2 days. Serve tea over ice.
i’ve never heard of these berries before..i wonder what they taste like. love the colour and it’s outershell too! also, that drink sounds really really refreshing. i like that it’s got green tea and juice in it. can i replace these berries with something else if i ain’t got any?
Diva – They look like they have an outershell like rambutan, but they actually don’t. What you’re seeing is the flesh.
If you don’t have berries, try cherries or pomegranate.
What a great idea to put yangmei in iced tea. Brilliant! I grew up on the dried, candied version, which is in fact available here in NYC. Too bad the fresh fruits are still not available.
Have you tried those little coin-shaped hawthorn cakes that come in stacks like rolls of change?
I wish I can find those berries here in the States,
I had them before when I visited China few years ago,
Besides the antioxidant part, it’s also good for your digestive system!
Yup! They’re called 山楂干 （shanzha gan). I loved eating those when I was little.
I love yangmeis! I’d eat them by the kilo when I lived in China, but can’t find them anywhere else in Asia. They’re very addicting in a tart, lightly sweet sort of way.
This is my first comment your blog, I enjoy reading all your posts.
Hi
Was wondering where else in Beijing can one find Yang Mei? We bought some together with mulberrries at a roadside stall on Gui Jie outside Hua Jia Yu Yuan but didn’t see them at the supermarkets.
Shiewie – In the past few weeks I have seen them less and less. Merry Mart, a supermarket on Hepingli Xijie to the northeast of Yonghegong, had some, but they didn’t seem that fresh. Maybe you can try Carrefour or the big Western market at Shin Kong Place?
They still had them at the San Yuan Li market last week. And yesterday I saw some at my neighbourhood Jinkelong (I didn’t check how fresh they were).
I had never had or heard of yangmei before this year. Yumberries indeed!
My parents hail from China and they’re not to big on the juices and drinks found here in America. My mom talked about yangmei berries before and I had no clue what she was talking about. >.
I think they’re caled “arbouses” in French – I make jelly with it, by boiling them with the skin on, and then filtering it!
I am eating some right now in Guiyang, China! I was so excited to get 4.5 jin for just 10 rmb! I wanted to find a recipe for them and now here I am…happy to be here!
Okay, you’re not going to believe this. We seem to have several yangmei trees on our new property up in north Georgia, here in the USA. That’s how I got to this site – I’m researching them and trying to figure out what to do with them. They’re completely organic (no one has touched those trees in years) and almost ripe, I think.
I have absolutely no idea of how to market them. It seems they have to be refrigerated from the moment they are picked.
Is there a marker system so I can get them to all those nostalgic Chinese folks? :)
Gerhard – You have yangmei trees growing on your property? Have you picked the berries and tried them out? You could find a way to dehydrate them into dried fruit. The next Craisins…mmm.
I have eaten those! But my Chinese colleagues all said that they need to be soaked in salt water for about 20 minutes and then rinsed prior to eating….My understanding is they can harbour tiny insects.