Where to find free, urban fruit-picking in Salt Lake City
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Serviceberries grow across the street from Smith's Ballpark
As grocery costs rise, intrepid gourmands can look for snacks in trees and vines that hang in public reach all around Salt Lake City.
Why it matters: Fruit trees can do double duty, providing shade and traffic-calming benefits while bringing some relief to food insecurity.
The big picture: "Edible forests" are a growing trend in urban forestry, one that "could be done" in Utah, Salt Lake City Forester Tony Gliot told Axios in a statement.
Friction point: Maintenance is challenging — fruit trees require care and produce food waste.
Yes, but: They've worked in cities like Philadelphia, where volunteers and community groups pitch in.
- In Tucson, Arizona, a nonprofit is using waterwise plants and runoff water for neighborhood fruit production.
Flashback: European cities formed with food production in mind — and a revival of publicly grown produce is underway there.
- By contrast, American urban forestry has traditionally focused more on leisure and shade, per the U.S. Forest Service. But city planners are rethinking that.
Zoom out: The biggest efforts involve entire public orchards, like in Asheville, North Carolina, and Atlanta.
In Salt Lake City, public fruit trees are scattered around parks and sidewalks.
- Here are tips to nosh on your neighborhood's bounty as you roam the streets of SLC this summer.
What's in season: Serviceberries and mulberries are plump and juicy now — but you don't have long to graze before they shrivel or get claimed by birds.
- Apricots are starting to ripen and probably will be abundant in a week or two.
- Cherries: June and early July
- Plums: Late July to early September
- Grapes: Late summer to fall
- Apples: Fall
Where to pick: Fruit that's accessible from a public place is fair game.
- Plants on city rights-of-way — including parking strips — "technically belong to everyone," Gliot said.
- Picking from overhanging branches of privately owned trees "is generally acceptable," he added. But he advises foragers to "be neighborly and ask the property owner if it is OK."
Zoom in: My favorite serviceberry site is the parking lot north of Smith's Ballpark — and the branches were hanging heavy with sweet berries as of Thursday.
- Look for the clusters of small trees with fruits that look like blueberries; the red ones aren't ready yet.
- Mulberries are harder to find and likelier to be picked over. I've found several near Memory Grove, on the west side of the road.
Pro tip: Pie is my favorite use for serviceberries. They hold their texture nicely, and their mild, brown-sugary flavor lights up with a bit of spice.
Worth your time: Check the crowdsourced map at FallingFruit.org
Threat level: Wash your foraged fruit before eating, and understand the risks. "It can be difficult to know if any chemicals or other foreign substances have made their way onto or into the fruit," Gliot noted. Also:
- Don't eat berries you can't identify.
- Don't trespass to reach your snack.