How to eat Wild Fruit

One thing I've learned in the past week while visiting friends and walking the back-roads of Vermont is how to find and eat the best wild fruits. It's simple: Don't pick, pick up. Look on the ground underneath the tree. The ripest apples, pears and peaches are the ones that have already fallen, while the fruit higher up, at eye level, is probably still too hard and tart to enjoy. The "5 second rule" doesn't apply here. The fruit on the ground isn't dirty, and if there are a few blotches, just eat around them or wipe the skin clean on your shirt. Common sense.