Roaming Roots

SALAL & RED HUCKLEBERRY

August 6, 2022

The road took us to Oregon and Crater Lake National Park next. Most of the peaks in the Cascade Mountain range are extinct or sleeping volcanos. Crater Lake was created 7,700 years ago when Mount Mazama erupted violently, then collapsed creating a caldera. Over hundreds of years, the basin filled with rain and snow melt becoming the deepest lake in the United States at 1,949 feet. No other water source travels to the lake and this ensures Crater Lake’s purity.

Crater Lake is a spiritually significant site to the Klamath people; the eruption lives on in their oral traditions and there is archeological evidence that their ancestors witnessed the event.

Our first campsite was near the Rogue River, an area with stunning waterfalls and ample evidence of volcanic activity.

We hiked up to the Natural Bridge Overlook. Here the river empties into an ancient lava tube, then reappears downstream. The lava tube (an underground tunnel inside solidified lava, previously occupied with flowing molten lava) creates a natural land bridge over the river.

Then north to Eugene and Portland and more berry picking.

SALAL, SHALLON, OREGON WINTERGREEN

Gaultheria shallon

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Salal is an evergreen shrub native to northwestern North America that typically grows to 5 feet. It has reddish-brown, peeling bark and ovate-shaped leaves that are thick and shiny with finely serrated edges.

In the spring, rows of small, white, bell-shaped flowers appear along pink stems.  Berries are a dull blue-black color when ripe. Both the flowers and the fruit are covered with small hairs.

Picking salal berries requires some practice because the stem that attaches berry to branch can be resistant. If you pull on just the berry, the skin tends to slip off the fruit, leaving the rest of the berry behind. You can either use a twisting technique or just pinch the entire stem off and separate berries from stems later.

The berry flavor is sweet, grape-like and slightly earthy. It is reported that the texture can be mealy, but the ones we found were quite juicy, but seedy.

TRADITIONAL USES AND HERBAL BENEFITS

Salal berries are extremely high in antioxidants and were an important staple food for the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Salish, Chinook, and Kwakwakaʼwakw. Berries were dried into flat cakes on cedar boards or skunk cabbage leaves for the winter months. The cakes would then be rehydrated in water or by dipping them into seal, whale or candlefish oil.

Today the berries are eaten fresh, cooked into pies, jams or jellies, and added to smoothies or fruit leather.

Medicinally, the astringent salal leaves have been used to treat wounds, diarrhea, coughs, and colds.

RED HUCKLEBERRY, RED WHORTLEBERRY, RED BILBERRY

Vaccinium parvifolium

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Also native to northwestern North America, the red huckleberry is a deciduous shrub with a height of 4-10 feet. Sharply angled, green branches sport thin, ovate leaves with smooth margins.

Small, solitary bell-shaped flowers occur in the axils of the lowest leaves on the youngest shoots and range in color from greenish-white to pinkish.

The berries are smooth, round, and bright red with a sweet-tart taste when ripe.

TRADITIONAL USES AND HERBAL BENEFITS

Red Huckleberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and were used by all regional native tribes. The berries were often combed off twigs with wooden rakes and then either eaten fresh, dried (singly or in cakes), or stored in oil. Infusions of leaves and bark was used to treat sore throats.

Like salal, red huckleberry is used in desserts and preserves.

RECIPE

Salal and Red Huckleberry Syrup

• 1/2 cup salal and red huckleberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon

Remove stems and debris from berries. Wash and place in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and then let cool. Using a wire mesh strainer, mash the fruit pulp to extract the juice into a bowl. Discard the pulp and return the juice to the saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice, bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer until thickened to a syrupy consistency – about 10 minutes.

Yesterday we had the syrup on French toast stuffed with ricotta cheese and dark chocolate chips. Yummy!

References

Acuña, U.M., Atha, D.E., Ma, J., Nee, M.H. & Kennelly, E.J. (2002, January 23). Antioxidant capacities of ten edible North American plants.  Phytotherapy Research, 16, 63–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.1031

Ferguson, A., Carvalho, E., Gourlay, G., Walker, V., Martens, S., Salminen, J. & Constabel, C.P. (2018, March). Phytochemical analysis of salal berry (Gaultheria shallon Pursh.), a traditionally consumed fruit from western North America with exceptionally high proanthocyanidin content. Phytochemistry, 147, 203-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2018.01.002

H. H. (2015, June 29). Salal berry. The northwest forager. https://thenorthwestforager.com/2015/06/29/salal-berry/

Krohn, E. (n.d.). Salal. Wild foods and medicines. http://wildfoodsandmedicines.com/salal/

Native Plants PNW. (n.d.). Red huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium. http://nativeplantspnw.com/red-huckleberry-vaccinium-parvifolium/

North Carolina State University Extension. (n.d.). Gaultheria shallon. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/gaultheria-shallon/

Oregon State University. (2022). Vaccinium parvifolium. Landscape plants. https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/vaccinium-parvifolium

Sierra Club BC. (n.d.). Red huckleberry. https://sierraclub.bc.ca/red-huckleberry/

Washington State University. (n.d.). Red huckleberry. WSU Clark County extension PNW plants. http://pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=532