You know what's interesting? I watched a video the other day, maybe max miller?, about strawberries in europe and they used to only be able to be gathered in the forest as you say and were never conducive to agriculture. Once the big strawberries were discovered in the new world, they cross bred them but they lost a lot of flavor but could be grown. I never even considered wild forest strawberries but I want to try one now.
If you're ever in california and have money to burn, try harries berry's. They are tiny little delights and VERY tasty
Oh man, the strawberries here in BC are incredible. They appear in the woods and various other areas, usually in small patches with relatively few berries. But they make up for their scarcity with flavour. It’s exceptional.
If you head into any alpine terrain in mid September you will find endless huckleberry (red and black), bog and alpine blueberries, and various others. They’re all absolutely incredible. I head into the mountains (usually via Strathcona provincial park’s various southern access points) this time of year to collect buckets upon buckets for my freezer.
Nothing in a store compares. Even fresh farmed blueberries, which are really nice here, are almost disappointing compared to the varieties that have grown along the slopes of the mountains. They’re such a treat. You do have to work for them, though.
From your reply to me up above I'd guess you've probably checked out the sundew bog next to Campbell lake? We did a couple of the short hikes this summer on a quick day trip exploring the island, next year we're going back to see more. The saprophytic plants near Karst creek were cool to search for too.
No, I haven't! I had no idea they're there. Thanks for mentioning it! I don't have plans to go that way soon, but I will eventually. Do you know what the best season for them is? I'm guessing they're perennial and not great to check out in fall? This sounds awesome.
For the saprophytes I don't know if they have a seasonal pattern. Truly I don't know much about them at all.
The sundews I grow tend to die back in the fall, so it might be coming to the end of their season soon. We were there in June. There are 2 species of sundews there that I saw, they look similar but if you get close to the ground you can see there are different heights/shapes and I think they tend to catch different insects as a result.
Drosera anglica and rotundifolia. There's also pinguicula vulgaris that's carnivourous and has a purple flower.
I want to say we saw sundews somewhere else on our trip, maybe out towards the coast like Ucluelet or Port Renfrew area?
I’ve been deep diving on this since your comment. Did you maybe see some at the bog near tofino? That’s a popular one in the general area of Ucluelet that seems promising.
I have no idea why I hadn’t considered looking for these kinds of plants on the island, but thanks again! I’ve got heaps of places to check out over the next year or two. I’m absolutely stoked!
I went and looked at our pictures it was the bog boardwalk in Ucluelet but the shorepine bog trail also had them. I don't know if both species of sundew were there, I didn't know to look for different types.
inaturalist is pretty good for finding reports of them.
I grew up in appalachia so our mountain produce is a little different but my favorite wild treat would be the muscadine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_rotundifolia). A wild mountain grape that has a hard skin but fantastic flavor. We make wine and jam out of them too but I love just eating a whole basket.
We also have wild blackberries and blueberries and we have a sugar cane type plant called sorghum that makes a really rich smokey syrup that goes great on biscuits.
That's so fascinating! I know nothing about native species around there. Muscadine sounds awesome from reading about it. I'd love to have something like that around here.
Sorghum is such a great food. I wish it was easier to access here as well. As a cereal it's incredibly nutritious, much more so than what's commonly available, but it's rare to see it in any form at all. "Rich smoky syrup" sounds nice too. Is it made from boiling the grains, or for the stalks/canes?
I strongly recommend going out to collect the wild strawberries (and wild bilberries!) if you’re ever visiting Europe when they’re fruiting. They’re one of the things I miss most about living in Europe. Even the best California strawberries picked ripe off the vine don’t come close.
Once in a while one of my local Russian restaurants or grocery stores will have wild strawberry jam imported from Europe. Usually $15+ a bottle and I buy out every single one they’ll let me (my favorite store now sets aside half the stock for me). They make the perfect gift too.
I've recently been on a hunt for farmer's cheeses and visiting Eastern European grocery stores, I'll have to look for that jam.
On the Bilberry front, I found a book about the vaccinium species of North America to try and identity the different huckle/blue/bilberrries around here. And the various rubus' that are not commercially grown but still taste good.
My partner and I are not Foragers(TM) but I'm always interested in food and I talked them into joining me on hikes in the spring as a chance to scout berry patches. So far it has worked. Unfortunately the cloudberries I found this summer were in a place I haven't been back to, so I still haven't picked them myself.
The word to look for is «земляника» since I don’t remember any English text on the bottles. Most of them are now from Belorus which I suspect is a dodge around sanctions.
If you're ever in california and have money to burn, try harries berry's. They are tiny little delights and VERY tasty