> >>I haven't seen a list of paleo-quality fruits which meet the assumed
> >>balance between minerals/sweet. Chokecherries come to mind.
>
> Excellent William. I would also be quite interested in such a list. Don
> Wiss is likely a good resource. Thoughts Don?
>
> Is there such a thing as a truly "wild" apple or cherry tree nowadays
> (especially in the US)? I have a number of fruit trees growing on my
> property, and it would be quite interesting to know how similar/different
> they might be from their wild counterparts (if such exist).

yes there is few species of  native cherries and apple in north america
.here in the north west we have pacific crab apple ,the fruit is sour before
frost then sweet and of the size of a small wild strawberry . other crab
apples are bigger the domestic apple comes from the forest of eurasia  .
because of their importation to europe then north america and because they
cross with natives crab apples we can find many volonteers plants of any
kinds in between . Here on salt spring we have more than 300 differents
cultivars plus all the volonteers growing on the side of the roads sown by
birds .the gentic diversity is such that you can create thousands of
different varieties by sowing seeds .

cherries the same   you have native cherries and you can fin "wild" plants
giving many types of fruits from the most sour to the sweetest created by
cross pollination .
>
> Chokecherry. Is that a bush or a tree? I know of other fruits called
> cherries that grow on bushes.....

it is a tree
>
> Wild berries. I suppose those would be much easier to find than wild fruit
> trees. I have some blueberry bushes I planted, and a couple of raspberry
> bushes that are volunteers. No telling if they are actually wild.

they are cultivars but are still very close to the wild .here we have many
different native berries . salmon berry : thimble berry , trailing
blackberry , black cap raspberry, huckelberry and many other vaccinum
familly  , elderberry , salal berry , goose berries ,currants , roses ,
they are very abondant everywhere as the natives were favorising them by
using fire of other managements of their ecosytem . I could try to send
seeds to anyone in exchange of your native seeds of edible plants.

genetic is one thing but also type of cultivation have a huge influence on
nutritional potential . the best being grown on untilled grounds in
association with many other species in  a balance diverse ecosytem ( each
species bring his own spectrum of minerals to the soil .the worst being
monoculture in a plowed field.

jean-claude
>