In this series we will explore the native berries of the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon Grape: the most identifiable and misunderstood fruit of all. It looks like this:
If you live in the Northwest (not Kim Kardashian's baby--I mean eww, in the metaphorical sense) you've seen this before. You may have identified this before as Oregon Grape, but I can assure that the vast majority has never eaten its blue fruit. Why?--because people have been claiming that this wonderful edible is, in fact, poisonous. This is due to the fact that there are spikes on its leaves. This is because anything with spikes is obviously poisonous.
Especially Blackberries
Anyway, the Oregon Grapes are for the most part, not ready yet. Although I've had a few of them over the past few weeks, only now have they been at least mostly ripe (I'm weird). That being said, the fruit is, in general, harder to tell if it is fully ripe to the untrained eye. So, try to taste a few. Unsurprisingly, the bluest ones are ripest. As for picking it, they form in clusters and are relatively stable, so no special consideration required. The height of these plants will range widely, from 1ft to 20ft, etc. and naturally grow upright. These berries are extremely easy to find and pick.
As for its quality of fruit--i.e. taste and durability--it is excellent, but would be a bit sour for some people's taste. Many people make pies, jams, out of this berry and one book called Northwest Foraging suggests a Salal-Oregon Grape glaze--sort of like a sweet and sour sauce. So far, I have not tried any of these--though I plan to. However, the campfire method proposed in the first series of these posts is probably the best way to go--especially if you're, you know, camping.
Although Oregon Grape is a native fruit, I still encourage you to take as much as you need, because it is rarely eaten. You might as well get you kilocalories from something that was about to rot then support a horribly energy-intensive farming system. Truth be told, they may be even better than the 5lb flat of blueberries you can buy at Costco--and definitely cheaper. Even still, the berries, due to their bad reputation, are almost literally everywhere. You can find them off the side of the road if you want to. Personally, I think these berries would be a great snack when bicycling, because mild-sour plus warm/hot water equals good!
Alright, Get Foraging!--BlackberriesAreForPicking
*As a side note: the nutritional information is not listed by any reputable source. Therefore, I did not make any claims as to its nutritional value, nor did I blindly say it was "healthy". Although I am certain it is at the very least not unhealthy, I cannot prove that. Unlike other blogs about organic gardening or foraging I will not make unwarranted claims about anything (unless I'm specifically being facetious--which only happens "occasionally"). In any case, do not be afraid to eat it, for it's edible, and highly delicious. That's really all that matters anyway. *
