Blue Sausage Fruit (Decaisnea fargesii)

Family: Lardizabalaceae | Edibility: Edible (3/5)

Decaisnea fargesii is a deciduous Shrub growing to 4 m (13ft) by 4 m (13ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf from April to October, in flower in June, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

sweet taste, but rather insipid. — A sweet taste, but rather insipid.; A very nice delicate flavour according to our palates.; The fruit looks like a bright blue sausage or broad bean pod and is up to 10cm long.; You peel off the skin in much the same way as you would peel a broad bean pod, this reveals a line of seed running the entire length of the fruit surrounded by a relatively thin layer of flesh.

Habitat & North American Range

Moist woods and thickets to 1600 metres. Mixed forests, scrub on mountain slopes, wet area in ravines at elevations of 900 - 3600 metres. (Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8)