What can you do with salal?
Harvesting Salal Berries and Leaves The leaves are also highly medicinal, so it's a good way for you to harvest both berries and leaves at the same time. I found it easiest to use scissors to cut the berries off a bunch at a time. I put the berries into a bowl and the leaves onto a drying screen.Jul 12, 2016
Are salal leaves edible?
Edibility. Its dark blue “berries” and young leaves are both edible and are efficient appetite suppressants, both with a unique flavor.Nov 9, 2013
What is salal plant used for?
Salal Leaf Medicine Salal leaf has a long history as a medicine for wounds, coughs, colds, and digestive problems. The Klallam, Bella Coola and Quileute People have chewed salal leaves and spit them on burns and sores.Aug 7, 2012
What does salal taste like?
I discovered that these berries of the salal bush (Gaultheria shallon) were not merely edible but had a surprising depth of flavor. They tasted like sweet blueberries with a hint of Concord grape, and were not too seedy.Jun 4, 2019
Where can I find salal?
Salal Berry can be found growing under conifer forest canopies from northern California up to Alaska. It thrives in damp, shady areas as well as on the edges of meadows. It grows well as an understory plant with the likes of the California Foothill Pine, Serviceberry, Oregon White Oak and more.
How long does salal last?
8 daysGreens are available year-round. Salal Lemon Leaf is traditionally bunched in a grower's bunch that typically has 8 to 10 stems per bunch. Expected vase life is an average of 8 days with proper care and handling.
Is salal poison oak?
Salal is one of the best treatments for poison oak due to its astringent properties. When the skin is broken, moist and itchy.
Are Shallon berries edible?
shallon are both edible and are efficient appetite suppressants, both with a unique flavor. The berries were a significant food resource for some Native American tribes, who ate them fresh and dried them into cakes. They were also used as a sweetener, and the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs.
What is salal greenery?
Lemon leaf, also known as salal, is grown in Washington state. Available almost year-round. Salal is a great green to use and comes in good sized bunches. Mostly used for vase arrangements and bouquets.
How do you identify salal?
Salal is a very common understory shrub in BC. It forms dense thickets, and is identifiable by its leathery leaves. The egg-shaped leaves, which vary somewhat in width, have pointed tips and are finely but sharply toothed.
How do you identify salal berries?
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What is salal used for?
The fruit serves as food for a variety of native animals that help distribute the seeds. Native Americans made great use of salal as a medicine (dermatological aid, gastrointestinal aid, and cough medicine), food (berries, dried or cooked), dye (purple from fruits, yellow from leaf infusion), and untensil (stems used as cooking tools).
Where did salal come from?
Facebook. Both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark wrote about salal ( Gaultheria shallon), which they first encountered on the Oregon coast near Astoria in 1806. They noted that elk fed on its leaves and that the Natives dried the dark purple berries in cakes or loaves.
What is a salal plant?
Salal ( Gaulthoria shallon) is an evergreen plant with glossy, waxy foliage that remains beautiful year round. Fuzzy, white or pink bell-shaped flowers droop from the plant in spring, soon to be replaced by bluish-black berries.
What are salal berries?
Salal berries are used much like any other berries, incorporated into jam, jelly, sauce, compote or fruit leather. While salal berries are flavorful, they are slightly earthier than huckleberries, blueberries, thimbleberries or wild blackberries.
How to keep salal plants moist?
Keep in mind that salal are woodland plants. Water as necessary during dry weather to keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged. A layer of bark chips or other organic mulch helps keep the roots damp and cool.
Where do salal plants grow?
What is a salal plant? This lush plant grows abundantly in the woodlands of the Pacific Northwest, primarily along the Pacific coast and the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, from Alaska to California. Although it was mentioned in the diaries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, salal was a staple ...
How tall does salal grow?
Growing salal plants also require rich, well-drained, acidic soil. Salal grows best in partial shade, often reaching heights of 5 feet (1.5 m.) or more.
Visiting with salal at University of Washington Medicinal Garden
The University of Washington has two large salal shrubs in their medicinal garden. When we first started our research on the plant, we found some preliminary information on the Internet and then we went to the UW farm to make our own observations. Doug, who works at the UW Farm, was enthusiastic to share his knowledge.
Environmental history of the salal plant in the Pacific Northwest
Originally used for food and medicinal purposes by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, recent years have seen a new found demand for salal. Salal grows rampantly in the Pacific Northwest region, most abundantly at lower elevation and usually in coarse soils.
Ethnobotany, ethnogastronomy, and ethnomedicine of salal
A berry-producing shrub native to North America, salal is particularly found in California, Alaska, and across the Pacific Northwest. An interview conducted in the summers of 2001–2003 on the Olympic Peninsula with 20 salal harvesters indicated that traditional knowledge about the growing environment of Salal helped them to harvest.
Ethnoecology and ethnobiology of the salal plant
Native Americans have had a long history with salal. According to literature, the Native American perspective is based on interconnectedness between humans and the natural biological world, which should be in balance. Spirituality and sacredness are associated with the forest.
Political ecology of salal
The political ecology of salal is inextricably tied to the floral industry. The highest demand for this aesthetic use of salal comes mainly from Europe.
Works Cited
Ballard, Heidi L., and Lynn Huntsinger. “Salal Harvester Local Ecological Knowledge, Harvest Practices and Understory Management on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.” Human Ecology 34.4 (2006): 529-47. University of Washington Libraries. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.
About Devon G. Peña
A lifelong activist in the environmental justice and resilient agriculture movements, Devon G. Peña is a Professor of American Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, and Environmental Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also works on the family’s historic acequia farm in San Acacio, Colorado.
Where is salal found?
Distribution: Salal is found along the Pacific coast from Southeast Alaska to central California, mostly on the west side of the Cascade Mountains and along the California coast. New growth can be reddish.
What animals eat Salal?
Use by wildlife: Deer and Elk eat Salal foliage, mostly in the winter. Salal is a preferred food for some Mountain Beavers (Aplodontia). The fruit is eaten by many kinds of birds and mammals including the Douglas Squirrel. Hummingbirds will visit Salal flowers. Pernettya, Gaultheria mucronata, is an evergreen shrub native to South America.
How tall does a salal grow?
Growth: Salal grows slowly, but will grow to over 6 ft (2m) in shady conditions. Plants in the sun usually grow only to about 3 ft (1m). It spreads by sprouting from underground stems. Habitat: It is one of the most common understory shrubs in our second-growth coniferous forests.
Where did the name Shallon Pursh come from?
Gaultheria shallon Pursh. (Gawl-THER-ee-uh shal-LAWN) Names: Salal is also known as Oregon Wintergreen. Its genus name comes from Dr. Hugues Jean Gaulthier, a Canadian Botanist and Physician. Shallon is the name commonly used in Britain where it was introduced—it is derived from its native name, Salal. Relationships: There are about 175 species of ...
Can you transplant a salal?
Wild-dug Salal does not transplant well. Even if the plant survives, it may take several years before you may witness any new growth. Use by people: Salal berries were eaten fresh by natives and mashed and dried into cakes. The fruit is sweet, but the texture is somewhat mealy.
What are salal leaves used for?
Salal leaves have a long history as a medicine for wounds, coughs, colds and digestive problems. The Klallam, Bella Coola and Quileute People have chewed salal leaves and applied them on burns and sores. The Samish and Swinomish People have used the leaves for coughs and tuberculosis, while the Quinault People have used them for diarrhea ...
What do Haida people use salal berries for?
The Haida used salal berries to thicken salmon eggs. Today the berries are still prepared as jam or preserves and eaten fresh. The leaves are used to flavor fish soup and the leafy branches were used to support meats in cooking. [i]
What are the compounds in salal berries?
He and his colleagues found that salal berries contain two key compounds: tannins, which are found in plant tissues such as leaves and bark, and anthocyanins, which produce red or blue colours in certain plants.
Is salal a forest product?
The leaves of salal are evergreen and thick with a waxy shine and they stay green for months after being cut, a quality that has made them popular among commercial florists. This has led to extensive harvesting of salal as a “special forest product” throughout the Pacific Northwest including British Columbia.
Is salal endangered?
Questions have been raised regarding whether salal will soon become a rare, threatened, or endangered species because of aggressive harvesting with no regard for its availability, rates of reproduction, or its use by indigenous peoples.
What is a salal shrub?
Salal ( Gaultheria shallon) is an evergreen shrub with robust and wholesome foliage. The leaves have a leathery feel about them and look dark green all year round. Both the leaves and the flowers are often used for ornamentation as floral arrangements. The flowers are bell-shaped and sit atop of a 6-inch stalk.
What are salal berries?
The flowers and foliage make attractive floral arrangements. As a superfood, salal berries are rich in antioxidants and tannin which cleanse the blood and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
How tall do salal plants grow?
The shrubs don’t grow to great heights. They average between 2 and 8 feet. Some salal plants reach 16 feet in the wild but they’re rare. You might come across the shrub covering the floors of coniferous forests as well as coastal areas.
What is the best soil for salal?
Soil. The perfect soil for salal is one that is slightly acidic. If your soil is on the alkaline side, you might need to add neutralizing organic matter. A thick layer of sawdust, peat moss, and sulfur works wonders in helping the shrub take root and establish.
When do salal berries bloom?
The bloom season for salal is during the spring while the clusters of fruit appear in the fall and winter. The berries are small and round with a dark purple tint. They’re favored by both humans and birds as a source of food. They make great jelly. The shrubs don’t grow to great heights.
Where do salal shrubs grow?
A native of the west coast, salal shrubs grow in the wild everywhere between California and British Columbia. In gardens and lawns, they are usually grown along with other native plants such as ferns, rhododendrons, and azaleas to create eye-catching designs.
How to propagate salal?
To propagate salal, you can either use seeds, division, or cuttings. For seeds, it’s better to plant them in the fall as we discussed above. If you prefer to cut twigs from the shrubs, then you need to plant them early.