Wild & Free: Rubus Berries

by By Sarajoy Van Boven, from the August 2006 Newsletter

"there is no end,
Believe me! to the inventions of summer,
to the happiness your body
is willing to bear."
-Mary Oliver "The Roses"

It is hard to imagine that in six weeks, more or less, frost will be upon us and our feet will get cold again, and also, that our days wandering this earth are numbered. But while we’re here, on earth and in summer, we'll want to relish this place. Perhaps the most intimate way to appreciate the summer is to eat it, to take it into your mouth, to taste it, to welcome it into your tummy and make it a part of your body. There will be thorns, thorns a-plenty. But the pleasure, I testify before you, is worth the pain.

Blackberries, raspberries and thimbleberries; these gorgeous, generous berries are juicy invitations to satisfaction. Although most of us are familiar with these fruits, we need reminding, reassurance, and encouragement to go out and take what's offered. All of these berries are found locally and are members of the Rubus genus, of the rose family.

Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus, my most beloved Rubus, can be found in abundance on Kamiak Butte and Laird Park in late July and early August. They grow 2 to 6 feet tall. Their stalks are often described as "shredded." Leaves are large and maple-esque with 3-7 lobes with toothy edges. The flowers look like large wild white roses. They come unarmed, although I would risk the bloodlust of thorns to get them.

The fruits are almost like raspberries, scarlet clusters of seed-containing "drupelets." But they are softer, with a matte finish (rather than gloss), a shallow cup, sort of hairy. Like Zen masters, when ripe and ready, they simply let go and slip off their cones. Your hope is that your hand is waiting beneath it. Their delicacy and drop-at-will style make them nearly impossible to collect en masse, store, dry, jam, or freeze. Even Native Americans in the area did not try to hoard this manna for their long winters. (Plants of the Southern Interior… by Lone Pine) Local Native Americans also ate the shoots raw or cooked, peeling them first. Picking shoots can be dangerous as shoots of most everything look like sticks in the mud. Take care; find a patch today and mark it for next year.

Raspberries grow wild around here and there are a couple different kinds. Each has the characteristic three leaflet leaves with pointy tips, and saw-tooth edges. Trailing Raspberry (Rubus pubescens) is the most difficult to spot, as it sticks to the ground, creeping with slim runners. Black cap raspberry, Rubus leucodermis, grows dark maroon, almost black raspberries and is easily but not dangerously confused with blackberries.

Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) come with some thorns and grows up to five feet tall. I have found a profusion of it at Laird Park. This was a favorite among local Native Americans with jams, jellies and dried fruit leather. A cough medicine was made from the petals and a stomach remedy from the roots of red raspberry.

Additionally, The Carrier people made a tea from the leaves for issues of the womb. As a two-time pregnant lady, following my practitioner's advice, I daily drank an infusion involving red raspberry leaves. Susun Weed of Herbal for the Childbearing Year notes red raspberry leaf infusions impart vitamin C, E, A and B complexes, and easily absorbed calcium and iron, plus many other minerals.

And lastly, the wild edible of most prominence, abundance and popularity: blackberries. These guys are ready towards the end of August in all nooks and crannies. Down along the Snake River, blackberries ripen earlier and Wawawai has a holy host of them piled along the roads and in the park. We pie them, cobbler them, freeze them for winter oatmeal, and eat them fresh from the bramble. A fully ripe blackberry, warmed by the sun, with a little road dust, inking my fingers; what is it that the gods eat anyway?

If you weren't already planning to do so, you've now been duly reminded and encouraged, I hope, to pick and eat these Rubus jewels offered so freely, and to savor the tart sweetness of summer's number days.

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

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