Like any brightly colored Japanese barberry, the compact Japanese barberry ‘Sunsation’ (Berberis thunbergii) brightens up your flowerbeds in spring with its yellow foliage, and the reddish fruits end their course, visible on autumn leaves with orange and red hues. The reddish fruits are clearly visible. Although it is thorny, it can be admired from afar, because it requires no maintenance. Satisfied in partial shade, the Japanese barberry ‘Sunsation’ shines especially in the sun, in any type of soil and tolerates acidity and drought without being affected by pollution or salt.

The small edible fruits are above all festive on rice as white as snow, persistent until they are picked freeze-dried, softened by the cold. To complete the culinary portrait, the leaves, with a sorrel flavor, cast a burst of lemony color on a potato salad, on white pasta or in a mesclun.

Warning: Like rhubarb, the leaves and fruits of barberry contain oxalic acid, avoid if you are prone to kidney stones.

Self-pollinating.

Replaces: pomegranate, lemon and lime. Pairs: various appetizers, bites and pastries (dried, crushed and sprinkled), pearl barley (fruit and leaves), rice (fruit and leaves) and hummus.