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Thursday, June 29th, 2006: Page updated at 12:00 AM
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Salmonberry
(Rubus spectabilis)
For Northwest Native Americans, ripe salmonberries announced the return of the Swainson’s thrush, a robin cousin with an ethereal fluting song known as the “salmonberry bird.”
Salmonberries’ bright pink flowers give way to berries varying in color from orange, which tend to taste citrusy, to crimson red, with a distinctive pomegranate-like flavor. Salmonberries prefer wet soils and can be found along streams. Ripe from May into July, these are of the “stand-and-eat” variety, as trying to transport them usually results in an unappetizing mush. |
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Evergreen huckleberry
(Vaccinium ovatum)
These maintain their texture and flavor into spring and are said to taste best after a touch of frost — a special treat on a late-season hike. Harder to find in Seattle than its red cousin, the plants prefer shady woods. Jacobson recommends planting a few in your own yard (available at nurseries specializing in native plants) for their year-round glossy foliage, shade tolerance and berries. The berries ripen beginning in September and are shiny black or a dull powder blue. |
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Red huckleberry
(Vaccinium parvifolium)
Associated with rotting wood and especially fond of old cedar stumps, this deciduous huckleberry is high in vitamin C. The shiny, round red berries were used as fish bait by coastal Native Americans, who also dried them like raisins. The plant’s bright green leaves are small and thin, with the whole shrub taking on an airy appearance. The berries are tart but tasty and ripen from late June into September. |
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Himalayan blackberry
(Rubus armeniacus, AKA R. procerus or R. discolor)
Introduced to America in 1885, this blackberry grows wild all along the West Coast. Its tentacle-like canes can grow 30 feet in one season. Most forgive its tenacious thorns come the plump sweetness of its black fruit in July and August. Some people swear an allegiance to the “shade” or “sun” blackberry — the cool juice of a shade-drenched berry versus the blackberry pie warmth of one plucked from a sunny spot. You decide.
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Salal
(Gaultheria shallon)
Although some dismiss its fruit as merely “edible,” the salal berry can be a sweet treat. Look for the shade-grown bushes that tend to produce larger, juicier fruit. A key food staple for Native Americans, salal berries were a main ingredient in pemmican — early power bars made of dried berries, salmon, fish oil and nuts. The most common shrub layer plant in our region, its purple to black berries have a long season, July through December. Don’t be put off by the fruit’s sticky coating, which can attract forest fuzz. |
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Thimbleberry
(Rubus parviflorus)
Slipping easily off into your hand when ripe, this ruby-red berry is aptly named for its pronounced cup shape.
“This is the best tasting and least appreciated berry,” said Wechsler, who dreams of making a thimbleberry pie. “People don’t know about them as much as the others. Thimbleberries are a little bit sour but not too much, which gives them a bit of pizazz.”
The plant sports large white flowers and maple-like fuzzy leaves that Jacobson calls camper’s toilet paper. Thimbleberry leaves can also be used as makeshift containers, but because the berries do not travel well, they are also best enjoyed at the source. They ripen from late May to early August, with peak picking in July. |
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Trailing blackberry
(Rubus ursinus)
Our only native blackberry winds a sweet but vicious vine through brushy open places seeking sun. Some call it “vegetable barbed wire” for its delicate but determined prickles. Because male and female flowers grow on separate vines, you may find male vines bearing no fruit. Its starry white or pink flowers bloom in April and May, with the small but worth-the-effort berries ripening in June and July. Trailing-blackberry jam is a valued treasure in envied cupboards.
— Illustrations by Julie Notarianni / The Seattle Times |
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