The Service, or Sorbus, Tree (Sorbus domestica), another underutilized LEGEND.
I made friends with one of the gurus, Ben Kunesh, pushing Sorbus domestica (Service Tree) into the world, while working at Burnt Ridge. He is as passionate as I am about Quercus rotundifolia, yet actively growing out trees if you are “seeking Sorbus“! As PROLIFIC fruit trees, Service Trees grow in the Mediterranean basin and around Temperate Oceanic-climates in Southern and Central Europe, needing only 20 inches (minimum) precipitation per year (i.e., a perfect Mediterranean climate-analog for coastal and foothill California, Oregon, Washington, and beyond)! These trees may be confused with Oaks when seen from afar due to their size, growing up to 65 feet tall, and living several hundred years!!
The harvest is similar to many nut trees – simply, pick off the ground (or mechanically harvest) when green / yellow. Picked straight off the tree, the fruits are highly astringent and gritty. But left to blett (over-ripen), the fruit then finish ripening on their own and are delicious – some say they taste like a “chocolate pear“!
More popular again in the past, the fruit has been well known for cider and even as a natural sulfur agent in wine. In France, there is a cider drink called Cormé, similar to the pear cider Poiré. A well-known French cidermaker, Eric Bordelet, is beginning to bring back the pasttime enthusiasm of the drink (see product here).
There is also a niche festival in Czech Republic with tons of value-added products (jam, cider, etc.) beside a small community-run Service Tree Museum in Tvarožná Lhota in the Moravian Slovakia region.
The Ecologist Cowboy 