Salal (Gaultheria shallon) is one of the most abundant shrubs that we're blessed with in coastal B.C., and you may have noticed that they're becoming chock-full of tasty purple berries these days. It grows from low to medium elevations in wet or dry forests, rocky bluffs, or near wetlands or other openings; but seems to do best in moist, well-drained areas. The branches are recognizable by their interesting pattern of angling slightly between successive leaves, which are themselves thick, evergreen, and 5-10 cm long. Flowers are white (sometimes pinkish) little urns, and fruits are bluish-purple and, while tasty, feel hairy or sticky to the touch. Both grow in a line of 5-15 along the branch tips.

Historically and currently the berries have been eaten fresh, dried, or in preserves. In most parts of the Pacific Northwest coast salal was the most plentiful and important fruit. The Kwakwaka'wakw ate them dipped in eulechon grease, the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs, and the Ditidaht chewed young leaves to suppress hunger. Branches have been used in pit-cooking and added as flavouring in fish soup.

Traditionally the leaves were used as a stomach tonic for diarrhea and to treat coughs and tuberculosis; modern medicine points to their antioxidant properties; and a poultice made from the leaves can be used to ease insect stings, cuts or burns.

Salal is a now a major commercial species: it comprises about 90% of the province's floral green exports and brings in millions of dollars annually, making it the second most important non-timber forest product (after mushrooms) in B.C. Salal harvested for floral arrangements is most highly prized when it consists of dark green leaves free of blemishes, usually from plants growing deeper in the forest.

This article only scratches the surface of this phenomenal plant; if you're interested in delving deeper, first make up a batch of wild salal-cranberry relish (recipe below), and then pick up a copy of the book "Salal- Listening for the Northwest Understory" by Laurie Ricou (NeWest Press).

Recipe: wild salal-cranberry relish (courtesy Seattle Times)

Rind of 1 orange (coarsely grated)
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups salal berries (tiny berry stems are okay)
3 cups cranberries (raw, whole)

Cook all ingredients on low heat until the berries are tender, and feel free to add a pinch of cinnamon or ginger. Tastes great served with salmon!

Heart Cards

I had 2 pull up twice today - apparently I'm meant to have both....

Believe in yourself - you're are a good person...

Reclaim your power and regain your freedom...

Black twinberry (Lonicera involucrata), found in moist forest, clearings, and river banks (and in abundance along the Juan de Fuca trail), is not the choicest-tasting berry of the bunch. They have been named 'monster food', are purported by some to be posionous, and taboos have been developed against eating them. A Kwakwaka'wakw belief held that eating the berries would render a person unable to speak, and some Interior nations purported that it could drive a person crazy. The berries are eaten by other mammals and birds in large quantity though, and have also been named 'raven food' on the coast and 'grizzly berries' in the Interior.

The deciduous shrub, a few metres high, can be recognized by its paired flowers which look like little yellow bells growing in fused bracts. They produce shiny black berries that are about 1 cm across. While it may not make for a nice snack, the plant still offers an eclectic assortment of other values (beyond, of course, its immeasurable integral worth). People with hair have rubbed crushed berries on it to counter dandruff or greying, while people without hair have rubbed the same on their scalp to counter baldness. Some whalers drank a tea made with twinberry bark to ease the afflictions of enforced sexual abstinence, and new mothers have rubbed this same tea onto their breasts to stimulate milk flow.

Leaves and sticks can be boiled and applied to swellings, sores, scabs, and broken bones; chewed leaves were applied externally to itchy skin, boils, and gonorrheal scars; and a decoction of leaves or inner bark was used as an eyewash. A tea from the berries is said to cleanse the stomach and purify the body, and the crushed berries themselves produce a black dye. The stems have been used as building and crafting material (sometimes adorned with the aforementioned black dye) and the hollow stem makes for a nice drinking straw. Perhaps the most common human use associated with black twinberry is as an ornamental plant, due not only to its aesthetic appeal but to its resistance to air pollution.

Heart Card of the Day

"Remember the Magic within You!"

Blackberries

Blackberries need no introduction to most of us, especially this time of year as they're ripening and making our strolls through the woods that much tastier. The tall shrub with big thorns and . . . tri- or 5-foliate leaves (i.e. with 3 or 5 leaflets) are Himalayan blackberries, Rubus discolor. They have a lot to offer- they're everywhere, the berries are big (1-1.5 cm thick) so it doesn't take long to fill up a bucket, and being an invasive species they spread quickly and there's less concern about over-harvesting. The native trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) are common as well, though not quite as abundant or evident. They crawl along the ground, and have smaller thorns, smaller (but just as delicious) berries, and smaller trifoliate leaves. Males and females are on separate plants, so if you find a nice patch of blackberries with a distinct lack of berries, it could be a male bush.

The berries are of course wonderful to munch on, toss in a smoothie, make a pie, preserves, syrup, wine (try it as a base for mulled wine in winter), and who doesn't love a nice blackberry buckle? But let's not stop there. The stems of blackberry are edible raw or steamed.... needless to say it's advisable to scrape off the thorny skin, then enjoy raw or as a potherb. Tea can be made from dried leaves; most recommend waiting until they are getting dry and red to harvest them. Leaves and roots have been used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, fevers, hemorrhoids, excessive menstruation, and mouth sores. Some Nations have used the berry juice to stain wood, hides, and other materials. People have made fibre and twine from the stems, some communities have reportedly used large piles of thorny stems as barricades for protection, and the Coast Salish Nation has used trailing blackberry stems as a scrubbing cleanse before spirit dancing.

Blackberry lime-ade
4 cups blackberries + some for garnish
1 cup sugar
1 kaffir lime leaf (crushed) or 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 green cardamom pod, lightly crushed
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 8 -12 limes)
Thin lime slices, for garnish
2 cups ginger ale or sparkling water
Ice cubes
Squeeze the juice out of the blackberries through cheesecloth and set aside. Combine sugar, 1 cup water, lime leaf and cardamom in a small saucepan and boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until you get a thin syrup.Remove the lime leaf and cardamom, allow the mixture to cool, and then chill it. Combine the blackberry juice, syrup and lime juice and refrigerate. Stir in the ginger ale when serving it, and garnish with lime slices and blackberries. Kick back, soak in the sun, smile, and enjoy...

Caution: Avoid wilted leaves; make sure they're completely dry if you use them for tea, and even then don't drink too much of it as it can irritate the bowels and stomach.

Magic Happens

this picture is a full moon over the Himalayas that a friend posted on her facebook

and it reminds me of this the first full moon of August...the Sturgeon Moon..

The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this Moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month.

A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze.

It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

Haws...

According to Mother Goose (and who are we to argue?) "The fair maid who, the first of May, goes to the fields at break of day, and washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, will ever . . . after handsome be".

This may be a fine (if perhaps shallow) reason to celebrate hawthorn trees, but if you missed the 1st of May, or if everlasting handsomeness isn't what you're looking for from a non-timber forest product, not to worry, there's more.

The fruits (called haws) of hawthorn trees are edible and were eaten by regional First Nations, but not usually prized as they are fairly dry and mealy. Throughout the world, notably in Europe, China, and North America, people have come up with home and commercial products such as jellies (recipe below), drinks (hawthorn schnapps being one intriguing example that merited another recipe below), candy and vinegar. More well known is the use of hawthorn flowers and fruits for treating the heart; several species have been developed into pharmaceutical preparations for cardiac conditions. Traditionally hawthorn has been used not only for heart ailments but also kidney disease, blood purification, insomnia, weight loss, inflammation, diarrhea, menstrual discomfort, and dysentry. The very hard wood can make a nice walking stick, and thorns have been used by people as fish hooks and by predatory songbirds as stakes upon which to impale their prey.

Hawthorns grow around the world; the native black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) is a medium to large sized shrub with heavily armed branches bearing stout thorns. The bark of older wood is rough and scaly, somewhat like an apple tree. It has leaves that are more-or-less egg-shaped with teeth around the top part. The white flowers have 5 petals and grow in clusters. They develop into blackish-purple fruits (haws) that look like small apples and have many seeds. Many of the hawthorns that grow in this area are non-native species that have reddish haws. The native black hawthorn is found widely throughout the southern half of Vancouver Island, usually at low elevations in full to partial sunlight.

The haws are picked when dark and ripe; make sure to collect only a small amount from each tree to minimize the impact on haw-loving wildlife, and watch out for the thorns! They literally have been known to poke people's eyes out. Fruit can be frozen or dried for longer storage.

Recipe: Hawthorn schnapps
Fill a glass jar 2/3 full of clean haws and cover them with clear, unflavoured vodka - 40% alcohol content (80 proof). Close the lid tightly and let steep at room temperature for 5-6 weeks in the darkness. Shake it lightly and have a taste from time to time, then strain and filter into a clean glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Store it for a couple of months then serve at room temperature. Cheers!

Another recipe: hawthorn jelly
1.1 kg hawthorn berries (haws)
1.2 L water
sugar (quantity depends on berry juice produced)
juice of 1 lemon

Cover haws with water and cook them at a simmer for about an hour, until the berries are soft. Pour them and the cooking liquid through muslin cloth and allow to drain into a bowl overnight- if you'd like clear jelly then be sure not to squeeze the cloth in order to get as much as you can out of it. Discard the haws and add the liquid to a pan with 400 g sugar for every 500 ml of liquid. Heat this gently with the lemon juice until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil and cook until jelly begins to set. Pour the jelly into warm, sterilized jars to store, or, alternately, dig in right away as there's no need to let it sit!

Caution: Beware of eating too many haws, as nausea and diarrhea may follow, and due to its components which affect heart rate and blood pressure, people with any heart conditions should only consume under the guidance of a doctor. Children and women who are pregnant or nursing should avoid consuming them.