What wild berries can you identify and pick in your area?...

[Locut0s]

I posted this in the Lounge but now that I know the gardening group is here I guess I'll cross post here

I've been picking and eating wild berries here since I was a kid. My father introduced me to some and friends to others. As far as I know there are no really poisonous indigenous berries here, though I'm sure there are some that have been introduced. The following berries are very common here and easy to identify and eat:

Salmonberries


Blackberries


Huckleberries


Wild Blueberries


Salal
I only learned about Salal a few years back when I saw a women picking them in Stanley Park while hiking through and asked what she was picking. I'd seen these berries many times before but didn't know they were edible. They are rather bland but the taste they do have is quite nice.


There are in fact many more edible berries that grow here as you can see:

http://northernbushcraft.com/guide.php?ctgy=edible_plants®ion=bc

But I've never learned to identify most of the others. I should try though. What fruits and berries grow wild in your neck of the woods that you have learned to identify and eat? Do you just pick them off one by one when you come across them or do you actively go out to collect them for salads and baking and the like. When blackberries come into seas, around late August or so, many people here go out with large buckets to collect tons of them. Great in pies and fruit salads!

[jtuck004]

1. Huckleberries, around Spokane and North Idaho. Lot's of

raspberries around too, and you don't have to compete with the bears for those.

The hucks are a little hard to get to sometimes, and often up on the mountains.

Saw a jeep in front of me today, had one of those cut stencils across the back window...

"Huckleberry Assault Vehicle".

[Locut0s]

2. Red Huckleberries?...

Like the ones in the photo I posted? I don't mind eating those when I come across them but they are so sour that I have difficulty seeing eating any quantity.

Not to mention they are so small it would take forever to pick a cup full

[jtuck004]

5. Blue. Good, too. It's like a religion to some of these folks. And the secrecy

is almost funny. People find them and won't tell anyone, they lie, they sneak around to avoid detection.

In the height of the season, however, you can see the "commercial pickers", or at least higher volume pickers. There are places where buyers park to weigh and purchase them from people that go up and get them.

They have been trying to cultivate them for years, without much success. They prefer the wild.

[opiate69]

3. Since I'm in basically the same corner of the world as you are (Olympia, Wa)

Pretty much all the same... and tons of good mushrooms to boot.

[Locut0s]

8. Interesting I've thought of trying mushrooming...

Since I really love mushrooms. However I couldn't identify a single one right now and my parents put the fear of god into me about misidentifying one and getting something poisonous.

[opiate69]

11. Definitely wise counsel...

My friend has something like 40 years foraging experience under his belt. I won't so much as touch a mushroom in the field unless he's there saying "OK, pick those there " although I have been doing a lot of studying and I feel pretty confident that I could ID a handful of easy ones like the boletes, puffballs and chanterelles...

Edit: If you really want to check into mushrooming, this would be a good group to look into.
http://www.vanmyco.com/

[Locut0s]

13. Thanks for the link...

Yeah I've always been led to believe that wild mushroom hunting is pretty dangerous. Even the experts get it wrong from time to time. But there I know there are a few very unique looking ones that are relatively safe to pick once you get to know them. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

[Aerows]

4. Blackberries

in March and April. I eat them straight off the vine, even though I know it probably isn't good for me. They are so tart and delicious, though, when warmed in the sunshine that I can't help myself

[Locut0s]

9. When fully ripe they shouldn't be tart at all...

Blackberries are amazingly sweet actually.

[applegrove]

6. Just had black currants, gooseberry and rhubarb oatmeal crisp. Fresh berries from the garden.

[Locut0s]

10. Nice! nt

[XemaSab]

7. Blackberries are the big one

There are also wild currants and elderberries.

On the coast there's salal, salmonberries, thimbleberries, and so forth.

[TuxedoKat]

12. Elderberries and black raspberries

I also have red raspberries and blueberries in my yard but they aren't wild.

[mtnester]

14. Mulberry, black raspberry, elderberry, blackberry, gooseberry, little wild strawberries

Last edited Wed Jul 31, 2013, 08:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Mulberry are best when you pick them from the ground (sweetest/ready ones drop)