Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel.

It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree (Cornus mas) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level.

It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March.

The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits.

The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres long and 1.5 centimetres wide, which ripen from August to October. The ISHS indicates that the Cornelian cherry from Georgia weighs between 1.1 to 5.6 grams, with 8.5% to 9.2% total sugar content, with an acidity from 1.7% to 2.3%, pectin from 0.9% to 1.1%, and vitamin C from 50.5 to 128.0 mg/100 grams.

The fruit is edible, but it is very tart, tasting like a mixture between a cranberry and a sour cherry. The high vitamin C content makes it medicinal for the use of mitigating colds and flu.

It is also called the Cornelian cherry dogwood. William Shakespeare’s character, Dogberry, in his play Much Ado About Nothing, is said to be based on the fruit of the common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), which was thought to be inferior to other edible berries. Dogberry is a night policeman, a comic character with an inflated ego, who thinks he is more important than he actually is.

Maghradze, D., Abashidze, E., Bobokashvili, Z., Tchipashvili, R. and Maghlakelidze, E. (2009). CORNELIAN CHERRY IN GEORGIA. Acta Hortic. 818, 65-72, DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.818.8

http://dx.doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.818.8

http://www.actahort.org/books/818/818_8.htm

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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