Wild currants flowering in Bear Creek Park
In the past, people picked wild berries for food. Now, few bother with most wild fruits, although some do wrestle with the thorny brambles to get in on the bumper crops of different kinds of wild blackberries that the Lower Mainland produces between August and October each year.
Currants have a high pectin content. Cooked into jam with raspberries or strawberries, they add thickness as well as a pleasing tartness. Note: please don't eat unidentified wild berries.