Heartnut, a cultivated Japanese Walnut

Heartnut hull, shell, and nut

Heartnut shells chewed open by squirrels

Today I picked Heartnuts (Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis) for the first time from a street tree near my house. I noticed the tree a couple months ago and was having trouble identifying it until I noticed some old heart-shaped nut shells beneath the tree.

A cluster of 10 Heartnuts

Leaflets with short petiolules and asymmetric basal lobes

Heartnut Bark is light grey and coarsely fissured

Heartnuts are a cultivated variety of Japanese Walnuts (Juglans ailantifolia) that grows about 60 feet tall and 16 to 36 inches in diameter with coarse, light grey bark. The leaves are very large reaching 3 feet in length and densely hairy with 11 to 17 pinnately arranged leaflets. Leaflets are ovate and 1.5-3 inches wide and 3-8 inches long; they have pointed tips, asymmetrically lobed bases, very short petiolules (less than 3/16 of an inch), and sparsely pubescent upper sides and densely haired undersides. Sometimes the terminal leaflet is missing or fused to one of the the first lateral leaflets giving it an odd appearance. The nut husks are fuzzy, egg shaped, 1-1.5 inches long and not quite as broad. Nuts are often in hanging clusters of up to 10. The husks can easily be removed by gently stepping on them and rolling them slightly beneath your shoe. The nuts are slightly smaller than the husks with a distinctive heart shape and a smooth outer shell and a significantly flattened appearance when viewed from the side. They crack easily to reveal a wing-shaped nut that is easy to remove unbroken. Like most nuts, they will be best after they are dried for a few months. Hopefully I will find a few more trees because the squirrels got most of the nuts from this one. I removed the husks from the few dozen nuts that I collected and will store them in a dry place until Christmas. They are supposed to have a sweet taste that lacks the strong aftertaste of Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra).

An odd Heartnut terminal leaflet doing double duty as a lateral leaflet.

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"Wild Blueberries," the Mountain Provides!

Yesterday, Katrina and I joined our local chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society for a hike around Table Mountain near Mount Baker. Our route took us through many subalpine meadows where we were able to enjoy the late season wildflowers and periodically pluck the fat fruits of Black Huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum) and Cascade Blueberry (Vaccinium deliciosum). Together, these are two of our region’s most delicious Blueberry/Huckleberries, and I overheard a few arguments about which our members most favored.

A laden Cascade Blueberry bush

Black Huckleberry

There are other reasons to quibble over Blueberries and Huckleberries. They are part of the same genus and their names are sometimes used interchangeably causing much confusion over the difference between the two. For example, Cascade Blueberry is sometimes called Cascade Huckleberry and Velvetleaf Blueberry is sometimes called Velvetleaf Huckleberry. However, A simple pattern elucidates the difference. Typically all 7 of our native Vaccinium species with blue fruit are called Blueberries, and our 4 species that don’t have blue fruit are called Huckleberries. Thus, we have red fruited Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) and black fruited Black Huckleberry. Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) sometimes challenges this rule with a rogue (and tasty) blue fruit variety, but the black fruited variety is more common. The red fruited Grouse Whortleberry (Vaccinium scoparium) of the eastern Cascades has a nice unique name, but some people call it (appropriately) Littleleaf Huckleberry.

Allan "examining" Cascade Blueberries

Black Huckleberries (left) and Cascade Blueberries (right)

After our circumambulatory sampling of Table Mountain’s fruit, Katrina and I set out to collect enough berries to bring back to our own feasting place. We had found the fruit production of Cascade Blueberries to vary considerably between different locations. The berries near Artist's Point were sparse, but farther down the trail, at the junction of the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail and the Galena Chain Lakes Trail, the bushes were laden with large fruit (briefly focusing our botanizing to a sensory analyses of just one species). Fruit production was sparse through the Chain Lakes, over the pass, and much of the way down to the Bagley Lakes, but near the Visitor Center the bushes were thick with small fruit. We didn’t want to bother with tiny fruit and were too tired to hike back out towards Ptarmigan Ridge, so we decided to explore the more accessible Ski Area for good fruit. It didn’t take us long to find a shady patch of meadow that was thickly laden with large berries of both Black Huckleberry and Cascade Blueberry. In a little more than an hour, Katrina and I picked 3 quarts of berries and never moved more than 40 feet from where we started.

Approaching perfection

Both berries are sweet and delicious with a nice subtle tartness. Cascade Blueberries have a thick texture that is similar to Bog Blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), or Salal (Gaultheria shallon) whereas Black Huckleberries have a much juicier texture. I think Cascade Blueberries are a little sweeter and milder flavored compared to the more explosive flavored Black Huckleberries. For me, the perfect handful is 10 Cascade Blueberries and 3 Black Huckleberries.

To the forager, every ecosystem can provide some form of delicious food. Supalpine meadows that are too rocky and steep for the plow, and have too short a growing season for “civilized” fare, are some of the most precious to those with a more adventurous palette. It is here that the forager finds mountain morsels with flavor—like the growing season—that is concentrated. So too is the picking experience... concentrated life!

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Traditional Foods Conference, Report

Camp Islandwood on Bainbridge Island

Last week Northwest Indian College’s Institute for Indigenous Foods and Traditions organized a three day festival of food on Bainbridge Island. The theme of this year’s inaugural conference was “Our food is our medicine.” Indigenous harvesters, educators, , herbalists, dietitians, and scholars shared workshops, stories, and foods from all corners of the Pacific Northwest.

Highlights:

Terry Maresca presented on Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) tapping. Terry comes from a long line of Mohawk sugarbush harvesters and when she moved to the Pacific Northwest, she decided to start making maple syrup from our native maples. We learned about the nutritional properties of maple syrup, how to install taps, and good strategies for boiling the syrup. At the end, Terry gave us a taste of her very own Bigleaf Maple syrup. It was fantastic!

Leigh with a Riceroot bulb. (N. Turner photo)

Later that day, Leigh Joseph presented on her effort to restore Northern Riceroot (lhásem; Fritillaria camschatcensis) in the mouth of the Squamish River so that the Squamish People can once again harvest the edible bulbs. This project was part of her Master’s Degree research and she employed both experimental and community-based research tools to simultaneously understand the ecological and educational parameters for a successful ethno-ecological restoration.

  

Elise's Fruit Leather

Heather and her bounty of traditional foods

That evening there was an open session for participants to share food and recipes. Elise Krohn gave us samples of her excellent Salal (Gaultheria shallon) - Blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) fruit leather. Heather shared a number of amazing foods that she and her boys harvested near Mt. Adams, including Bitterroots (kioxhay*; Lewisia rediviva), Biscuitroots (kaush*; Lomatium canbyi.), Black Huckleberries (wiwnu*; Vaccinium membranaceum), dried Salmon (nusux*), and dried Elk (yamish*). She said that once the Biscuitroots have been sun dried and mashed they are called luksh*. I have wanted to try Bitterroots for years and I was very excited to taste them. Heather prepared them by carefully peeling the roots and then drying them. She soaking them briefly in hot water before serving them. They were wonderful and not at all bitter (maybe the slightest hint of bitter aftertaste).*Names provided by Heather, orthographies and any mistakes are my own.

Biscuitroot

Bitterroot

 

The next day the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium presented on their traditional food revitalization project called the “Store outside your door: hunt, fish, gather, grow!” They have teamed with a chef to prepare a number of short food films featuring regional and seasonal traditional foods throughout Alaska. Their films are phenomenal! Check out their youtube channel here.

Then Fiona, Earl, Anna, and JB discussed a variety of projects on Vancouver Island that have helped revitalize traditional foods. These include Feasting For Change, the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities Indigenous Foods Network, and the Annual Traditional Foods Conference.

Deer Butchering

Hugh barbecuing Salmon and Venison

Boiling with rocks

That afternoon I stayed outside, participating in excellent hands-on workshops including a demonstration of deer butchering, and hands-sessions for salmon and clam barbequing as well as pit roasting. I also boiled some Ozette potatoes in my bentwood box.

 

After long days of learning, we gathered each evening around a campfire and entertained each other with personal stories, music, and tales of coyote, raven, and other heroes of the animal kingdom.

Common Hawthorn fruit

On the final day of the conference, Elise Krohn and Elizabeth Campbell presented a nice session on late summer berries. We all processed some Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) berries, learning about their tonic affect on our blood vessels, and made Black Huckleberry smoothies and Blue Elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) syrup.

I left the conference with a mind full of ideas and an appetite inspired for indigenous foods. Thanks to everyone who shared and the hard work of the organizers and volunteers.

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Blue elderberry- fastest fruit in the west

Early in the season flowers, unripe, and ripe fruit are all present

Unripe berries don't have any bloom and have green stems

Over the last several years I have become more and more amazed at just how prolific Blue Elderberries (Sambucus cerulea) can be. A couple years ago I picked 4 gallons of fruit in 13 minutes. Last week, on our way back from the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival, Katrina and I outdid that record. We stopped just west of Wenatchee in apple orchard country and found the Elderberries loaded with fruit that was just starting to ripen. Blue Elderberries develop a whitish bloom on the berries when they are ready to harvest. This bloom is technically called epicuticular wax and protects the berries from UV radiation, desiccation, and excessive moisture. Many fruits that persist on the bush for several months have significant bloom.

Katrina with a 2 pound cluster!

Some of the bushes that we harvested were up to 10 inches in diameter and 30 feet tall, making it impossible to reach the massive clusters of fruit near the top. I think the Elderberries in this region are especially productive because they benefit from the apple orchard irrigation- their roots probably reach down to a more accessible water table surrounding the irrigation canals. With three bags already full, we got permission to harvest several bushes that were next to a migrant workers' irrigated kitchen garden, and the berry clusters on those bushes were immense- some weighing at least 2 pounds and measuring close to a foot across. All told, we filled 5 large cloth grocery bags with fruit (about 20 gallons) in less than an hour.

Removing the stems

Back home, we put the fruit in the freezer for a few days to sweeten it and make the fruit less burdensome to process. I actually think that wetting the fruit slightly before freezing it would make it even easier to de-stem. Rolling the berry clusters between our hands quickly detached the fruit from the myriad of small stems, which should not be eaten. The leaves, bark, and stems of all elderberry species are poisonous.

At this stage, the berries can be frozen, dried for later use, or processed immediately into juice, jelly, wine, etc. We dried some, and juiced the rest by putting several inches of water in a large pot and simmered the berries until they softened. We then strained the juice out and canned it. Katrina also started a small batch of Blue Elderberry wine.

Blue Elderberries from start to finish including canned juice, berry pulp, wine, and dried berries.

It is now only the beginning of the Blue Elderberry season (and perhaps even a little early for bushes west of the Cascades). In the next 2 months we look forward to canning many gallons of Elderberry juice for drinking straight and mixing with our smoothies throughout the rest of the year. Elderberry juice has a flavor that is a cross between grape juice and tomato or cranberry juice with a smell that is similar to grapes.  Last year we picked Elderberries through the middle of October. On years that the birds don’t eat all the fruit, they may be fine to pick into the early winter.

Pyramid shaped flowers of Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)

Heavy cluster of Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) fruit

There are a couple other Elderberry species in the Pacific Northwest. Red Elderberries (Sambucus racemosa) are much more common west of the Cascades than Blue Elderberries, but the fruit is far inferior (in fact, from a food standpoint, I haven't yet figured out how to use it). Native Americans diluted their tastier berries with Red Elderberries when they were going to trade them, but reserved their pure berry cakes for personal use. I have had decent tasting fritters made from Red Elderberry flowers- but what battered and fried plant doesn’t taste good? Red Elderberries produce fruit mid-summer and are mostly done fruiting now. Black Elderberries (Sambucus nigra) are mostly found east of the Rockies but are occasionally found in the Cascades. I got to harvest Black Elderberries last week with Sam and found their flavor to be intermediate between Blue and Red Elderberries, but more similar to Blue in flavor and appearance- having palatable berries and flat clusters of fruit.

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