Pimbina

Pimbina : The pimbina (in English, squashberry) is the fruit of the three-lobed viburnum which is a shrub of hedges and clearings (family of Caprifoliaceae - Botanical name: Viburnum trilobum), flowering in white bouquets and small red berries.
Le against « pimbina » vient de l’algonkin de nipimina, language of the Algonquin Indian tribe of Canada) and which means “bitter seeds or fruits”.
The pimbina is a small bathroom which remains clinging to the stems all Canadian winter and which provides a beneficial seed to birds, especially to grouse of which they perfume la chair.
In Scandinavia, a kind of porridge was once made with flour, honey and pimbina fruits. An alcohol was also distilled from it. Although rather harsh, the pimbina fruit was and still is an important food among Native Americans. Among certain peoples, it was traditionally only picked in the middle of winter while among others, it was collected in September to consume it immediately or to preserve it until it softened. It was also dried. A very common way to preserve fresh fruit, regardless of species, was to cover it with animal fat or fish oil or submerge it in water. In certain western tribes, the fruit of viburnum was considered a prestigious food and only people of high rank had the right to pick it, in places of which they had exclusive enjoyment, by virtue of their status.
An important element of trade or a valuable gift, this small fruit appears in many myths of the Haida, a people of British Columbia, who believed that it was the food of choice for supernatural beings.
The Carriers ate it with bear fat, the Nishgale boiled it and then mixed it with oil. Sometimes they made it into a kind of ice cream, beating it with candlefish oil and snow. It was also cooked in soup. In the East, the Algonquins and Abenakis consumed the fruit of: Viburnum cassinoides, the Iroquois, Saulteaux, Micmacs and Maliseet that of Viburnum lentago and  Viburnum trilobum.
We pick the pimbina during major frosts, because its pulp has become soft.
Like cranberries, we make compote or jelly, which is a little harsh but goes very well with poultry or game.
Today, viburnum fruit is rarely used except in jams and jelly or in the form of juice or wine.
But we can always reconnect with a very old tradition (especially for children), that of snow topped with pimbina syrup.