Fruits are one of the most exciting and nutritious parts of a forager’s diet.
With so much color, variety, and a range of flavors to suit different palates, there is something for everyone when it comes to North America’s wild fruit catalog.
Many of these species grow widely and are easy to identify – even for beginners!
Keep reading for seven fabulous edible fruit species to start your fruit-foraging journey.
7 Wild Edible Fruits to Forage & Enjoy
I’m going to share some of my favorite fruits that you can harvest safely and reliably in the warmer months of the year.
So prepare your gloves, baskets, and taste buds for some of the tastiest wild edible fruits around.

1. Wild Grapes (Vitis sp.)

When you get so used to buying certain foods commercially, it can be a shock to discover that those foods can also be found in the wild.
Such is the case with grapes, which are a fabulously easy fruit for beginners to forage.
There are dozens of species of grapes that grow freely in the North American wilds, from the eastern riverbank grape to the southern muscadine with many more in between.
However, the highest concentration of wild grape species is in the northeast.
Wild grapes tend not to be as sweet as the ones you buy from farms and supermarkets, but they still taste excellent and can be enjoyed in much the same way, including in jams, jellies, wines, and vinegar.
The size, flavor, and sweetness/tartness will vary depending on the species, but all wild grapes are edible.
Here are some wild grape species to look into:
- Fox grape
- Muscadine
- Riverbank Grape
- Winter grape
- Summer grape
Be careful not to confuse wild grapes with Canada Moonseed, a notable poisonous wild grape lookalike.
2. American Persimmons (Diospyros virginiana)

Ah, persimmons, one of the wild edible jewels of fall.
Few things fill me with joy quite like spotting these small orange-brown spheres in the late fall landscape.
The American persimmon is a fruit tree native to the US, and its native range is in the southeast and lower midwest.
If you live in these regions, you’re in luck! This tree is a heavy producer that grows best in moist, rich soil and can often be found in abandoned fields and cropland, according to the USDA.
Unlike commercially grown introduced species like the fuyu, American persimmons are astringent.
This means they will not continue ripening once picked, so it’s important to wait until the fruits are so ripe they fall right off the tree.
A ripe persimmon should be soft and sticky to the touch, and the flesh should be moist and super sweet. If it leaves you with that cottony-dry mouthfeel, it isn’t ripe enough.
Both humans and animals love the taste of American persimmons, so even though these trees yield a lot of fruit, foragers should remember to leave some for local wildlife.
3. Crabapple (Malus sp.)

A wild relative of the domesticated apple, crabapples are much smaller than their commercially viable cousins but still make an excellent and nutritious wild food for foragers.
There are thousands of wild and cultivated crabapple species that can be found around the world.
Crabapple trees are fairly common and easy to identify, with their serrated oval leaves and beautiful white and pink spring flowers.
The fruits are much smaller than an apple, around 1.4 to 2 inches in size, and grow on long cherry-like stems.
Crabapples ripen in late summer through fall, but some foragers prefer to wait until after the first frost of the season, as the cold shock makes these tart fruits both softer and sweeter.
As mentioned, crabapples are quite tart – much more so than apples – so most foragers won’t eat them straight from the tree.
Take advantage of their high levels of pectin to make jelly, or experiment with seasonal crabapple butter, sauces, pickles, and even stuffing!
Like domesticated apples crabapple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide compounds, so avoid eating the seeds in large quantities.
4. Prickly Pear (Opuntia sp.)

Here’s a little something for foragers in the West: introducing the prickly pear cactus, a cacti that belongs to the Opuntia genus and produces unique plump fruits that can be harvested in late summer.
The appearance and flavor of the fruits will vary by species.
Some ripen into a dark red and purple, others turn yellow, some orange, and so on. Some flavors are more subtle whereas others are very sweet and strong.
And it isn’t just the fruit that can be enjoyed – the fleshy green cacti pads and spring flowers are also edible.
Prickly pears may be delicious but they aren’t a low-maintenance species.
The pads and fruits of these cacti are covered in spines and glochids, tiny hair-like spines that can cause major irritation and pain if they come in contact with your skin.
Prickly pears and pads should always be harvested using thick gloves that the glochids can’t penetrate. The skin is then roasted and burned to remove them before eating.
Eastern foragers, don’t feel left out!
While many prickly pear cacti species grow in arid desert climates, there are plenty of species, like the eastern prickly pear, which grow in varying climates across the country.
You might be surprised at the places you can find them growing.
5. Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

Cherries can be quite expensive even when they’re in season, which is why finding them in the wild is so satisfying!
In summer, keep your eyes peeled for the black cherry, a native cherry tree that is an amazing source of nutrition for humans and animals alike.
Black cherries begin ripening in summer to early autumn, turning from red to its trademark dark purple, near-black color. You’ll often find black cherry trees growing in fields and on forest edges in temperate climates.
The black cherry’s native range extends from eastern and western Canada to the northwestern US and further south, according to the North Carolina State Extension.
Wild black cherries can be eaten fresh from the tree, though they might be too bitter for some tastes. If you prefer not to eat them fresh, you can use them to make jelly, syrup, fruit leather, and more.
6. Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

One of the most unique native fruits in North America is the pawpaw, the only member of the custard apple family that grows in temperate climates and the largest native fruit in the country.
This green tropical treat is lauded for its flavor profile, which tastes like a cross between banana and mango, and has a long history of use as an indigenous and colonial food staple.
Native pawpaw trees can be found growing in 26 states, from northern Florida up to Ontario and across the midwest.
The pawpaw tree grows best in moist, fertile soil and can often be found growing as an understory tree in hardwood forests, or in thickets along rivers and streams.
Pawpaws begin to ripen in late summer and early fall.
With its sweet flavor and creamy texture, the pawpaw is just as good eaten fresh or used in recipes.
Many foragers like to churn it into ice cream or incorporate it into beverages to best showcase its flavor, while others prefer to use it in baking recipes.
7. Passion Fruit (Passiflora incarnata)

Also known as maypop, the passion fruit is a lovely and useful wild fruit native to North America and particularly widespread in the southern US.
This hardy vine produces distinctive green, egg-shaped fruits that ripen in late summer through to fall. You can tell when a wild passion fruit is fully ripe because it will turn slightly yellow and fall straight from the vine.
Their glossy lobed leaves and fruit are fairly easy to identify, but an even better way to distinguish them is by their incredible white and lavender flowers, which show up before the fruit.
Wild passionfruits are filled with edible pulp and seed which have a pleasantly tangy-sweet taste, and can be eaten raw and used to add a tropical twist to different recipes, including desserts, sauces, and beverages.
The maypop, passiflora incarnata, should not be confused with the tropical passionfruit, passiflora edulis, a close relative that is native to South America and produces edible purple fruits.
Important Disclaimer: Safety and Responsibility in Foraging
Many of the wild fruits mentioned above will be easy to identify and even familiar to beginner foragers.
Still, anyone who has limited experience with foraging should take extra precautions when identifying and harvesting wild food.
Make sure you’ve done enough research to confidently ID these species, and don’t gather anything you cannot identify with absolute certainty.
Be aware of where you forage.
Plants in some areas are treated with toxic pesticides, especially invasive species.
Others are natives that may be rare in your region or endangered across the country, so check their status in your state before you forage.
With the exception of invasive noxious plants, you should forage wild fruit in moderation so some will be left for wildlife, self-propagation, and other foragers.
