Cornel : The cornouille is the fruit of the dogwood (*) (male or wild, sanguine or female), a shrub of the undergrowth and hedges in the East and the Center of France (families of Cornaceae - Botanical name: Cornus mas), which is a species native to southern Europe and Asia.
The common or female dogwood, which is the most widespread, with its gleaming autumn foliage, is still used in tanning.
The species owes its Latin name (cornu = horn) to the fact that its wood is hard like horn. The male dogwood is found mainly in eastern Europe and the Near East.
It is relatively uncommon in France. It is sometimes called cornier or fuselier. Widely used by Georgians, Armenians, Turks and Iranians, it is credited with many virtues.
Description: The male dogwood is a hardy tree (USDA Zone 5) measuring up to 12 m in height and appreciating calcareous soils. Its longevity is more than 100 years.
The deciduous leaves, 4 to 10 cm long by 2 to 4 cm wide, are entire, opposite, slightly embossed, with a dark green underside. They fall quite early in the fall.
The yellow flowers are small (5–10 mm in diameter) and appear in February–March before the leaves. This early flowering, before that of Forsythia, makes dogwood an excellent bee plant.
The fruits, called cornouilles are drupes red 15 to 20 mm long containing a large nucleus. They have a sour taste, are edible and sometimes marketed. They are preferably eaten chard, for example when the fruits have just fallen on the ground. They have a taste reminiscent of cherries.
The wood is hard, elastic and straight; it was once prized for making arrows and javelins, gears, wheel spokes or tool handles.
Its powerful roots help fight against soil erosion.
The species is very useful to wildlife because hares and deer appreciate its foliage, just as bees appreciate its early flowers at the end of winter, and birds appreciate its fruit in summer.
Property: Shrub very often planted in gardens (as well as its cultivars). The fruits are rich in vitamin C. They can be eaten raw provided they are very ripe (otherwise they are laxative). They are mainly eaten cooked, in jelly and marmalade. In the past, this tree was widely cultivated because its fruits were highly valued.
Varieties: There are a few cultivars fruit trees such as:
– Elegant: early Ukrainian variety
– Jolico: German cultivar with large sweet fruit
– Pioneer: large fruit 3,5 cm long in the shape of a pear, juicy, sweet and aromatic
– Redstone: large early fruit; very hardy tree
– Yellow Fruited: yellow fruit.
(*) Dogwood dogberry) is the name of one of the characters (the chief of the guards) of the comedy Much ado for nothing, published in 1600 by the English writer William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
Dogwood Jobs : Collected at the end of the summer, the dogwoods (also called cherries of September”, “cornioles” and “horns”), red, fleshy, oval and as big as olives, are at the same time sourdoughs and a little oily.
We eat them well blackberries au natural, riding a jelly ou candied, or barely picked blackberries et macerated in brine or in chutney.
Dogwoods contain 8 to 9% of sugars (especially from glucose and fructose), 2 to 3% ofmalic acid and 70 to 125 mg of vitamin C per 100g. They make excellent jams.
They are sometimes fermented to give a wine cornouilles (notably in Armenia), or even transformed into jams.
In some French regions, they are colloquially called "couilles de Suisse".