Berries

In culinary terms, the small fruits borne on bushes and low plants (rather than trees) — most native to northern woodlands. As a group, berries are the most fragile, perishable, and phenolic-rich fruits in the kitchen. Most are non-climacteric or nearly so, meaning quality is essentially fixed at harvest. Their intense colors come from anthocyanin pigments, and their concentrated flavors — far more intense in wild forms — make them both the most rewarding and most time-sensitive fresh fruits to work with.