Safe to eat wild berries? (Turner: cost, store, moving)

[Nell Plotts]

You may have seen huckleberries which also grow wild in our forests. huckleberries - Google Search

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[doggiemama]

I sure hope they're safe to eat because I've been eating them almost every day since they ripened! Made some yummy sauce for ice cream, too. Just wash them and put them in the blender with some sugar and lemon juice. If you don't like the seeds you can strain the sauce through some cheesecloth.

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Originally Posted by khyron

I think I also saw some blueberries but couldn't be sure because the bushes they were on were very small (it occurred to me that perhaps a hiker had perhaps "seedbombed" them either by design, or due to snacking while hiking?).

Nope. No blueberries at this time of the year (and they don't grow wild anyway). What you saw were most likely the fruit of Mahonia aquifolium -- "Oregon grape" -- our State Flower. They're very common in the woods and starting to fruit now, but the berries are not something you'd want to put in your mouth.

P.S. Avoid eating berries growing along roadsides as they are likely to be contaminated with distillates from car exhaust and dust.

[hamellr]

Although you can make Jam out of the Oregon Grape. Fat of the Land: Oregon-grape Preserves also pies - anything that requires a bunch of sugar.

[wanderbygrace]

There are a boatload of different varieties of blackberries, some of which are still out there in the wild, ripe & ready to be picked (heck, we have them all over Happy Valley & Damascus still available, although not usually in desirable picking locations). Here is a good website on our berries:

Oregon Berries | Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission (http://www.oregon-berries.com/index.cfm?r=1 - broken link)

Black raspberries are smaller than blackberries with smaller nodules. IDK about in the wild, but the U-Pick in Sandy's (fantastic & cheap ($1/pound) place to go for u-pick of numerous berry varieties - see their website) black raspberrise were in peak season about a month ago, so I'd guess what you're seeing aren't black raspberries.

Blueberries and huckleberries look similar and are very different from raspberries and blackberries in a number of ways.

About 2-3 weeks ago, there were a ton of blackberry bushes next to Rock Creek Middle School in Happy Valley that begged us to be picked. We skipped the ones right by the road, but still came away with at least a gallon of fresh blackberries. YUM!!! I couldn't tell you how many millions of blackberries line 212 from the 224 split to US 26. Not sure I'd want to pick any of those, though.

Since we moved here from Ohio in June, we've become enamored w/the amazing bounty (and variety) of berries in ouu area. LOVE it!

[HonuMan]

When I moved to Portland and bought a house in 1999, I was delighted to find a small blackberry vine shoot starting to grow by my back fence. My neighbor, an Oregon native, advised me to pull it up while I still had the chance. But no, I wanted fresh blackberries to eat. I told him I'd just train the vine along the back fence and keep it pruned, as people did in Atlanta. He told me it doesn't work that way in the PNW, and that I'd be sorry. That first summer, the vine grew 40 feet along the fence, and all seemed well. The blackberries were delicious. Then runners started shooting up elsewhere in the yard. Then came more vines from the seeds the birds pooped out. Now it's an ongoing battle to keep the vines cut back. However, on my first date with a woman my second year here, I presented her with some fresh blackberries and cut roses from my yard. It impressed her, and she eventually ended up marrying me. I like to think that the blackberries played some small part in that, and I'm glad I didn't pull up that original shoot.

I could do without the poison oak plant at the other end of the yard, however. Every summer, I think I kill it, but it always comes back, like the lead villain in a cheesy Hollywood movie.

To the OP: salmonberries are good, too. They look like raspberries, but they're salmon-colored (as opposed to salmon-flavored).

[Nell Plotts]

You really need brush killer to discourage poison oak, and never - never burn the branches because the oil will get on your clothes. The only soap that does a number on it is Fels Naptha bar soap. I keep two bars of it in my first-aid kit.

[mkl654321]

Originally Posted by hamellr

If the berry has a "waxy" dull exterior, don't eat. If it's small and spherical, don't eat.

If it is multi-chambered like raspberries, it's usually good to eat. The only exception I can think of doesn't live in Oregon.

That rule would exclude blueberries and huckleberries, which are perfectly safe to eat, and really, really delicious, too.

[kvon]

I have see many different wild berries but haven't tried them. Maybe later. Small and spherical seem to fit many of them.

I virtually had my dinner tonight in the bushes. My sons had quite some of them too, but my wife was still refusing to eat them. I'll show her the comments here tomorrow. Thanks guys for the good and knowledgeable replies.

Originally Posted by hamellr

If the berry has a "waxy" dull exterior, don't eat. If it's small and spherical, don't eat.

If it is multi-chambered like raspberries, it's usually good to eat. The only exception I can think of doesn't live in Oregon.

[howardsgirlfriend]

They're probably the Himalayan blackberries--enjoy! As another poster said, they're invasive, so keep eating!

I've lived here all of my life, and I have never found a tasty berry that wasn't safe to eat. This is the best part of the country for berries. Just use your common sense, and don't go on other's property.