Continuing the berry theme from my
post on blackberries in
Bitten yesterday, today we’re moving on to explore wild, native Pacific Northwest berries. Learning what berries are edible and delicious enables you to indulge a berry addiction on hikes, in parks, or spontaneously by the side of the road. I’ll give you some descriptions here, but I suggest you get a book to guide you.
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast is a great book for plants, flowers, trees, and berries.
Wild Berries of the Northwest is small, lightweight and berry-focused, with large pictures and good information. Both contain information about edibility.
Getting distracted by a berry bush and devouring or gathering as many as you can is an ideal summer activity, something you shouldn’t miss out on if you can help it. Berry picking is primal. It’s hard to argue with years of evolution. We can dress in modern clothes, get takeout, and buy our berries in frozen bags from Trader Joe’s, but walk past a bush overflowing with sweet, ripe berries and just try to resist the temptation. Last year, a friend and I
went to pick huckleberries at Mount Rainier and couldn’t tear ourselves away from the bushes. We’d try to head back down the trail, but we’d see another spot where we simply had to stop and pick.
So, here is an overview of some of the edible wild native and invasive berries in the Pacific Northwest. It’s not comprehensive, so please add any ones you love I haven’t covered! And as with any wild edibles, be sure you know what you’re eating before you start popping anything berry-shaped into your mouth. It’s more of a concern with mushrooms than berries, but you still want to be careful.
If you’re viewing this in an RSS feed or third party source,
click over to the original post to see the pictures.
Oregon grapes
Mahonia aquifolium, M. nervosa and M. repans
You can find three slightly different types of Oregon grapes in the Pacific Northwest, but their taste is virtually identical. Some of the bushes are tall, with large clusters of berries, while others are short and compact. The berries are extremely sour and astringent with small, hard seeds one tends to spit out. This doesn’t sound like a recommendation, but I actually really like Oregon grapes. They’re juicy when ripe, and the skin has an interesting taste. Various parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine to reduce inflammation.
Look for jagged, pointy leaves that look vaguely like holly, and blue, slightly oval-shaped berries. Oregon grapes tend to grow in the woods at low elevation. They’re ripe all summer long.
Salmonberry
Rubus spectabilis
Salmonberries are, well, one of those berries I’m really glad to see... only because they mark the beginning of berry season. They appear usually by late May or early June, and later in higher elevation.
Salmonberries are fairly insipid, but occasionally you come across one that tastes delicious. They’re usually the color in this picture, but some get darker purple-red, almost black. The flowers are a deep purpleish-pink and the leaves, as above, are recognizable as part of the rubus genus, with jagged edges, deep veins and clusters of three or five leaves. Look for these at low elevation, often in the woods or sunny spots at the edge of the woods.
Thimbleberry or redcap
Rubus parviflorus
I adore thimbleberries. The flavor is sweet yet tart. A close cousin of the raspberry, thimbleberry bushes have no thorns, only wide, soft, beckoning leaves surrounding small clusters of berries. The ripe berries are dark, bright red; don’t bother picking these unripe. The nearly-flat cup-shaped berry slides off the star-shaped base easily. These start ripening in June or July and keep going at later elevations all summer long. They grow in disturbed or undisturbed soil and at low and high elevations. The fruit is best when the plant gets sunlight.
Trailing Blackberry or Dewberry
Rubus ursinus
Trailing blackberry can be insipid and hard to find in quantity, but the good ones are spectacularly sweet and flavorful. Look for the classic blackberry shaped leaves seen in this picture. The fruits are black when ripe, and they’re quite small. These are found in partly-lit woods at low elevation, sometimes in disturbed soil. They’re ripe in early and mid-summer.
Red Raspberry
Rubus idaeus
I know only one person lucky enough to have found these, and they were deep and high in the North Cascades. Not what you might call easy to find. But oh, to find some! There really are wild red raspberries in the Northwest and they look just like cultivated raspberries, only with a slightly smaller and rounder fruit. The leaf spread is generally smaller than what you’d see on a blackberry. Like a thimbleberry, raspberries slide off the stem, leaving a cup-shaped fruit. These grow in sunny, mountainy areas often at elevation. These are a mid to late summer berry, depending on elevation.
Black raspberry
Rubus leucodermis
Those from the East Coast or the Midwest might be familiar with this berry’s very close cousin, Eastern Black Raspberry, or Rubus occidentalis. Black raspberries are hard to find out here, but I’ve spotted them in the central and eastern parts of the Cascades. Like a red raspberry, the fruit slides off the stem, leaving a cup-shaped berry. Look for leaves that are jagged with deeper grooves than a blackberry’s. The berry is raspberry shaped and black. The flavor is extraordinary, sweet and slightly wine-y. They are less juicy than raspberries, though, and a bit more seedy. This plant is determinate, although the Eastern variety is a creeping one. Ripeness depends on elevation; they are most common in early to mid July, but high elevation ones will ripen later.
Red huckleberry
Vaccinium parvifolium
Like salmonberries, the red huckleberry is a berry I’m glad to see because 1) it’s early and 2) it’s a berry. These are fairly insipid, but the occasional perfect one is sweet and quite good. They grow in the woods at low elevation, and are often quite tall to maximize photosynthesis. The leaves have the classic vaccinium shape: a pointed oval with faintly serrated edges, although on this plant you have to look pretty closely to see the serration. The berries are small and red, slightly translucent. They’re ripe late May through about early July, depending on elevation.
Huckleberries & Blueberries: Alaskan, Black, Oval-leafed, Bog, Thin-leafed
Vaccinium alaskensis, membranaceum, ovalifolium, caespitosum, uglinosum
I’ve combined these varieties together. I call these all huckleberries, although they’re also called wild blueberries. We have four or five different varieties in the Northwest. The best are in the mountains in sunny or semi-sunny areas. They grow best in well-drained soil, so look for them on slopes. The higher the elevation -- which also means the shorter the bush -- the better the berry. The berries have a classic slightly-flattened circular area on one side, like a blueberry but slightly more pronounced. They range in color from dusty medium blue to deep blackish-purple. The deeply colored ones taste like wine.
Huckleberries have slightly pointed to very pointed ovular leaves with serrated edges, and branches that stick out at an angle. The plants get a lot of fruit.
This is the best picking berry, in my opinion. Amazing flavor, lots of fruit, and they grow in scenic places you can’t get to most of the year. I could pick huckleberries all day. No surprise that my addiction has even earned me the nickname Huckleberry.
Look for these starting in mid-August. They’re ripe through late September.
Evergreen huckleberry
Vaccinium ovatum
They’re another huckleberry, but these earned their own listing because of some key differences from the other typical huckleberries. They grow on taller bushes with thick, evergreen, classically-shaped vaccinium leaves (pointy, very serrated) and large clusters of very dark berries. These are wonderful, and if you run into some when they’re ripe, you’ll get a lot of berries. I’ve found them in lowland areas on the Kitsap Peninsula and southern Olympic Peninsula. They’re wonderful. The berries are ripe in August and September.
Salal
Gaultheria shallon
Yes, you can eat salal. I’ve been asked many times by trepidatious friends, looking at the slightly fuzzy berries sticking out in rows. Salal are related to blueberries and huckleberries, belonging to the same family, the Ericaceae. The berries are slightly puffy and fuzzy, but have a blueberry-like taste. They bake well, and make excellent pies. Look for them in August and September in low-lying areas with at least partial sunlight. You can find them in the city.
Red elderberry
Sambucus racemosa (or S. pubens or S. arborescens)
I have these in my fridge for the first time, having foraged some on Saturday while hiking with Stephan. Traditionally-living Native populations used elderberries for food, often drying the berries, mixing them with other berries, or storing them in fish oil.* The berry can cause indigestion raw, and the non-berry parts of the plant are toxic, so treat this one carefully. It can be cooked down into sauces or desserts.
Red elderberry likes sunlight and moisture, and can often be found at medium or lower elevations in the mountains. The shrubs are low with pointed clusters of small, bright-red berries. The serrated leaves parallel one another on the branch. The berries are ripe in August and September.
Blue elderberry
Sambucus cerulea
These berries are more commonly used than their red cousins, perhaps because they produce so prolifically. The shrub grows quite tall, with large, hanging clusters of dusty-blue berries and slightly wrinkled leaves with serrated edges. The berries are ripe in August and September. Also meant to be eaten cooked, this berry is used for jams, pies and wines. Check out Jen’s recipe for
elderberry preserves with almond and honey on Modern Beet.
Northern red currant
Ribes triste
A lot of the currants we find wild in the Pacific Northwest are insipid, but every once in a while you hit upon some that are outstanding. Northern red current, when ripe, is among the best. The leaf has three parts with jagged edges and the fruit sometimes has little hairs. Currants are tart, so some people like to sweeten and cook them. According to one of my berry books, traditionally-living Native communities stored these with salmon roe. They look rather like salmon roe, and that combination sounds really good.
Look for perfectly round little berries with dried flower remnants on the bottom. This plant likes moisture, but is sometimes found on sunny mountainsides too. Look for these July through September, depending on elevation.
Any additions? What are your favorite wild berries? A few I haven’t included: Saskatoon berries are supposed to be delicious, but I’m not yet familiar with them. Mmm, maybe that will be my next project. There are also a lot more currants, but they’re mostly insipid. And, finally, there are tiny wild strawberries but I’ve never found any bigger than a few millimeters, and even those seem rare.
Thanks for the creative commons pics:
Elderberries:
druid labs Blue elderberries:
randomtruth Salmonberry:
JenWaller Oregon grape:
brewbooks Red raspberry:
McBeth Red huckleberry: Wikimedia Commons
Fourth hucklberry pic:
Triciaward Evergreen huckleberry: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Trailing blackberry
gwarcita Red currant: Victor Radziun
Other pics are mine. Feel free to use if you credit and link back to me.
*See Losey et. al., Exploring the use of red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) fruit on the southern Northwest Coast of North America
Getting distracted by a berry bush and devouring or gathering as many as you can is an ideal summer activity, something you shouldn’t miss out on if you can help it. Berry picking is primal. It’s hard to argue with years of evolution. We can dress in modern clothes, get takeout, and buy our berries in frozen bags from Trader Joe’s, but walk past a bush overflowing with sweet, ripe berries and just try to resist the temptation. Last year, a friend and I went to pick huckleberries at Mount Rainier and couldn’t tear ourselves away from the bushes. We’d try to head back down the trail, but we’d see another spot where we simply had to stop and pick.
So, here is an overview of some of the edible wild native and invasive berries in the Pacific Northwest. It’s not comprehensive, so please add any ones you love I haven’t covered! And as with any wild edibles, be sure you know what you’re eating before you start popping anything berry-shaped into your mouth. It’s more of a concern with mushrooms than berries, but you still want to be careful.
If you’re viewing this in an RSS feed or third party source, click over to the original post to see the pictures.
Oregon grapes
Mahonia aquifolium, M. nervosa and M. repans
You can find three slightly different types of Oregon grapes in the Pacific Northwest, but their taste is virtually identical. Some of the bushes are tall, with large clusters of berries, while others are short and compact. The berries are extremely sour and astringent with small, hard seeds one tends to spit out. This doesn’t sound like a recommendation, but I actually really like Oregon grapes. They’re juicy when ripe, and the skin has an interesting taste. Various parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine to reduce inflammation.
Look for jagged, pointy leaves that look vaguely like holly, and blue, slightly oval-shaped berries. Oregon grapes tend to grow in the woods at low elevation. They’re ripe all summer long.
Salmonberry
Rubus spectabilis
Salmonberries are, well, one of those berries I’m really glad to see... only because they mark the beginning of berry season. They appear usually by late May or early June, and later in higher elevation.
Salmonberries are fairly insipid, but occasionally you come across one that tastes delicious. They’re usually the color in this picture, but some get darker purple-red, almost black. The flowers are a deep purpleish-pink and the leaves, as above, are recognizable as part of the rubus genus, with jagged edges, deep veins and clusters of three or five leaves. Look for these at low elevation, often in the woods or sunny spots at the edge of the woods.
Thimbleberry or redcap
Rubus parviflorus
I adore thimbleberries. The flavor is sweet yet tart. A close cousin of the raspberry, thimbleberry bushes have no thorns, only wide, soft, beckoning leaves surrounding small clusters of berries. The ripe berries are dark, bright red; don’t bother picking these unripe. The nearly-flat cup-shaped berry slides off the star-shaped base easily. These start ripening in June or July and keep going at later elevations all summer long. They grow in disturbed or undisturbed soil and at low and high elevations. The fruit is best when the plant gets sunlight.
Trailing Blackberry or Dewberry
Rubus ursinus
Trailing blackberry can be insipid and hard to find in quantity, but the good ones are spectacularly sweet and flavorful. Look for the classic blackberry shaped leaves seen in this picture. The fruits are black when ripe, and they’re quite small. These are found in partly-lit woods at low elevation, sometimes in disturbed soil. They’re ripe in early and mid-summer.
Red Raspberry
Rubus idaeus
I know only one person lucky enough to have found these, and they were deep and high in the North Cascades. Not what you might call easy to find. But oh, to find some! There really are wild red raspberries in the Northwest and they look just like cultivated raspberries, only with a slightly smaller and rounder fruit. The leaf spread is generally smaller than what you’d see on a blackberry. Like a thimbleberry, raspberries slide off the stem, leaving a cup-shaped fruit. These grow in sunny, mountainy areas often at elevation. These are a mid to late summer berry, depending on elevation.
Black raspberry
Rubus leucodermis
Those from the East Coast or the Midwest might be familiar with this berry’s very close cousin, Eastern Black Raspberry, or Rubus occidentalis. Black raspberries are hard to find out here, but I’ve spotted them in the central and eastern parts of the Cascades. Like a red raspberry, the fruit slides off the stem, leaving a cup-shaped berry. Look for leaves that are jagged with deeper grooves than a blackberry’s. The berry is raspberry shaped and black. The flavor is extraordinary, sweet and slightly wine-y. They are less juicy than raspberries, though, and a bit more seedy. This plant is determinate, although the Eastern variety is a creeping one. Ripeness depends on elevation; they are most common in early to mid July, but high elevation ones will ripen later.
Red huckleberry
Vaccinium parvifolium
Like salmonberries, the red huckleberry is a berry I’m glad to see because 1) it’s early and 2) it’s a berry. These are fairly insipid, but the occasional perfect one is sweet and quite good. They grow in the woods at low elevation, and are often quite tall to maximize photosynthesis. The leaves have the classic vaccinium shape: a pointed oval with faintly serrated edges, although on this plant you have to look pretty closely to see the serration. The berries are small and red, slightly translucent. They’re ripe late May through about early July, depending on elevation.
Huckleberries & Blueberries: Alaskan, Black, Oval-leafed, Bog, Thin-leafed
Vaccinium alaskensis, membranaceum, ovalifolium, caespitosum, uglinosum
I’ve combined these varieties together. I call these all huckleberries, although they’re also called wild blueberries. We have four or five different varieties in the Northwest. The best are in the mountains in sunny or semi-sunny areas. They grow best in well-drained soil, so look for them on slopes. The higher the elevation -- which also means the shorter the bush -- the better the berry. The berries have a classic slightly-flattened circular area on one side, like a blueberry but slightly more pronounced. They range in color from dusty medium blue to deep blackish-purple. The deeply colored ones taste like wine.
Huckleberries have slightly pointed to very pointed ovular leaves with serrated edges, and branches that stick out at an angle. The plants get a lot of fruit.
This is the best picking berry, in my opinion. Amazing flavor, lots of fruit, and they grow in scenic places you can’t get to most of the year. I could pick huckleberries all day. No surprise that my addiction has even earned me the nickname Huckleberry.
Look for these starting in mid-August. They’re ripe through late September.
Evergreen huckleberry
Vaccinium ovatum
They’re another huckleberry, but these earned their own listing because of some key differences from the other typical huckleberries. They grow on taller bushes with thick, evergreen, classically-shaped vaccinium leaves (pointy, very serrated) and large clusters of very dark berries. These are wonderful, and if you run into some when they’re ripe, you’ll get a lot of berries. I’ve found them in lowland areas on the Kitsap Peninsula and southern Olympic Peninsula. They’re wonderful. The berries are ripe in August and September.
Salal
Gaultheria shallon
Yes, you can eat salal. I’ve been asked many times by trepidatious friends, looking at the slightly fuzzy berries sticking out in rows. Salal are related to blueberries and huckleberries, belonging to the same family, the Ericaceae. The berries are slightly puffy and fuzzy, but have a blueberry-like taste. They bake well, and make excellent pies. Look for them in August and September in low-lying areas with at least partial sunlight. You can find them in the city.
Red elderberry
Sambucus racemosa (or S. pubens or S. arborescens)
I have these in my fridge for the first time, having foraged some on Saturday while hiking with Stephan. Traditionally-living Native populations used elderberries for food, often drying the berries, mixing them with other berries, or storing them in fish oil.* The berry can cause indigestion raw, and the non-berry parts of the plant are toxic, so treat this one carefully. It can be cooked down into sauces or desserts.
Red elderberry likes sunlight and moisture, and can often be found at medium or lower elevations in the mountains. The shrubs are low with pointed clusters of small, bright-red berries. The serrated leaves parallel one another on the branch. The berries are ripe in August and September.
Blue elderberry
Sambucus cerulea
These berries are more commonly used than their red cousins, perhaps because they produce so prolifically. The shrub grows quite tall, with large, hanging clusters of dusty-blue berries and slightly wrinkled leaves with serrated edges. The berries are ripe in August and September. Also meant to be eaten cooked, this berry is used for jams, pies and wines. Check out Jen’s recipe for elderberry preserves with almond and honey on Modern Beet.
Northern red currant
Ribes triste
A lot of the currants we find wild in the Pacific Northwest are insipid, but every once in a while you hit upon some that are outstanding. Northern red current, when ripe, is among the best. The leaf has three parts with jagged edges and the fruit sometimes has little hairs. Currants are tart, so some people like to sweeten and cook them. According to one of my berry books, traditionally-living Native communities stored these with salmon roe. They look rather like salmon roe, and that combination sounds really good.
Look for perfectly round little berries with dried flower remnants on the bottom. This plant likes moisture, but is sometimes found on sunny mountainsides too. Look for these July through September, depending on elevation.
Any additions? What are your favorite wild berries? A few I haven’t included: Saskatoon berries are supposed to be delicious, but I’m not yet familiar with them. Mmm, maybe that will be my next project. There are also a lot more currants, but they’re mostly insipid. And, finally, there are tiny wild strawberries but I’ve never found any bigger than a few millimeters, and even those seem rare.
Thanks for the creative commons pics:
Elderberries: druid labs
Blue elderberries: randomtruth
Salmonberry: JenWaller
Oregon grape: brewbooks
Red raspberry: McBeth
Red huckleberry: Wikimedia Commons
Fourth hucklberry pic: Triciaward
Evergreen huckleberry: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Trailing blackberry gwarcita
Red currant: Victor Radziun
Other pics are mine. Feel free to use if you credit and link back to me.
*See Losey et. al., Exploring the use of red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) fruit on the southern Northwest Coast of North America