Pacific Northwest Foraging by Douglas Deur

Author:Douglas Deur
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 2014-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

Monkeyflower sports two bright yellow lobes above and three below, all arranged symmetrically around a deep and hairy tube.

mountain ash

Sorbus scopulina (western mountain ash, rowan)

Sorbus sitchensis (Sitka mountain ash)

EDIBLE berries

Berries are tart, with a distinctive flavor, and when sweetened they make popular jams, jellies, wines, and juices.

Each spring, the showy small mountain ash trees explode with bright green leaves and clusters of white flowers. Over the summer, the flowers transform into bunches of flame-orange berries, with each bunch consisting of perhaps twenty to forty berries. By late summer, the berries are ready to consume. They are tart, with a distinctive flavor that defies easy comparison; when sweetened they make popular jams, jellies, wines, and juices. Some European wines, teas, and even breads are also flavored with berries of Sorbus species. Not deterred by tartness, birds relish the berries, and ash trees can become swirling centers of bird diversity in late summer. With a vitamin C content comparable to citrus fruits, the ash is probably worth all this avian affection. Native American and old European oral traditions celebrate the medicinal values of the ash tree, suggesting a long and fruitful association between our species.

How to identify

Deciduous shrub or small tree, 5 to 20 feet tall, with smooth reddish brown to gray bark. Compound, oblong to lance-shaped leaves are sharply serrated and darker green on top than beneath. Small white flowers form fluffy clusters and are replaced by bright red to orange berries that look like tiny apples.

Where and when to gather

Western mountain ash thrives on the margins of low- to middle-elevation forests, where the trees can reach for the sun. Sitka mountain ash is shrubbier, growing on rocky slopes in northern and mountainous areas. Closely related European cultivars are becoming established on the fringes of settlements and along roadways. The berries from each of these can be used similarly. The berries often taste sweeter in the late season—even after a first frost—but birds commonly strip the trees bare before then.

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