Brown As A Berry?

[sandyRoe]

It's a phrase most of us will have heard, but what berries are brown?

[Ken4155]

None as far as we know, sandy. Chaucer uses the phrase twice in Canterbury Tales, describing the colour of a horse. As to which berry he meant, only he knows. Perhaps he was red/brown colour blind?

[Buenchico]

I suspect that the phrase might relate to dried berries, used in cooking, rather than to berries still growing on their host plants.

For example, cedar berries are naturally blue but dry to become brown:
https://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/cedar-berries/
(The same is true of juniper berries).

[THECORBYLOON]

If you listen to this link, back in Chaucer's time, "brown" meant "dark" so a brown berry was any dark coloured berry.

https://www.waywordradio.org/expression-from-the-canterbury-tales/

[Ken4155]

Then why didn't that there Chaucer feller say "as brown as a dried berye (sic)"? Instead of having us all looking for berries that are brown when they are 'alive'. Mugging us all off, he was. Thinks he's clever just 'cos he wrote a book.

[Baldric]

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/37600.html

[Togo]

Back pre Chaucer the Medlar was a very popular and easily cultivated berry. The Medlar Berry was brown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespilus_germanica

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=medlar+berries&qpvt=medlar+berries&FORM=IGRE

[Mamyalynne]

The explanation offered in Corby's link is the one I've been told before and seems the most plausible.

[retrocop]

I ground up some peppercorns two days ago. They looked like small dried brown berries.

[douglas9401]

I suppose he could have been passing Ye Olde Girls School Outfitters and remarked on a passing tourist being as brown as a beret.