Hiking in Oregon reveals just how many wild berries there are to be found along the trail. The average resident of the west coast can typically identify a wild strawberry, but even blackberries can be confused with other delicious fruits found growing along railroad tracks, parking lots, or beautiful lakesides hidden among the Cascade mountains. Wherever you’re hiking, you’ll want a good idea of what the options are to find delicious berries beyond what you find at u-pick farms.
Wild Berries of Oregon
Below you’ll find a list of examples of many of the different kinds of wild berries that can be found in Oregon. While there are many edible options in the Pacific Northwest, be forewarned that they come with varying tastes. While you’ll definitely find delicious berries on this list, some can be surprisingly tart.
Also, note that most berries in Oregon will be easiest to find the earlier you come across them in their ripening season. The west coast is full of wildlife, including bugs and birds, that are also out in the woods foraging for these delicious treats. Another pro tip for berry hunting in Oregon is to find them on those early morning hikes since they will taste fresher earlier in the day.
Oregon Grape
Oregon grape is a hardy plant with holly-like leaves that grows in full shade or full sun, in coastal forests and coniferous forests. It can grow on a rocky slope or in an open field. The oregon grape is often a shrub with dark purple or deep blue berries. They are considered safely edible, though pregnant people may want to avoid them as they contain berberine, which may not be safe during pregnancy.
While the oregon grape is considered safely edible for most, it is very tart. Typically, people enjoy this berry combined with other delicious fruits, like salal berries, or when made it into a jam and sweetened.
Depending on where you’re looking, you’ll likely find ripe oregon grape berries ripe in mid-June through the end of August.
Salal Berries
While salal berries may not be found in grocery stores, they’re very popular with foragers in Oregon. These berries are often compared to blueberries. Blueberries are often the champion of the “superfood” category, well known for being foods packed full of important nutritious content like antioxidants. Studies have found that salal berries actually have three times the antioxidants of blueberries. Fans of the salal berries also compare the flavor to that of blueberries, reporting that while blueberries can be too tart or watery, salal berries more consistently have the pleasant mild taste that comes with a great blueberry. A common way to describe the flavor of salal berries is that they taste like a blueberry crossed with a black currant.
Salal berries carry the scientific name gaultheria shallon. While more studies have been done about them in recent years, revealing their high antioxidant content, they’re still not often found in grocery stores and haven’t been heavily studied for safety, allergies, and pregnancy concerns.
These berries have been used for food and for medicinal purposes by local Native Americans for generations.
Salal berries have a leather-like texture. The plants are sometimes harvested by florists in the early spring when they have light pink flowers growing in neat rows. When they are left to ripen, they become dark blue berries. They are ripe in the late spring or early summer.
When foraging for salal berries, note that these delicious fruits are difficult to remove from the stem. You can either bring scissors with you to clip them free or remove the entire stem from the plant to bring home and separate them there.
Himalayan Blackberry
There are a few different kinds of wild blackberries growing across the state of Oregon. Himalayan blackberries are perhaps the most common. They are also considered a menace by most. The himalayan blackberry can grow to be 15 feet high. The plants are thick and full of thorns. They grow aggressively and love sunlight. With so much of Oregon covered in thick forests that block that light, it’s natural that the himalayan blackberry decided to find its home in places where humans have changed the landscape. This means it is often found growing along railroad tracks, parking lots, and roadways. Note that since blackberries grow so quickly and are in these areas where humans find them to be a problem, people will often spray herbicides meant to kill blackberries alongside roadways or in their private yards. If you see blackberries growing along a roadside, look carefully for any signs that the plant is dying. Also, check plants growing near the blackberry, since they could also experience the ill effects of herbicides.
You’ll mostly find himalayan blackberries on the west side of the Cascade mountains.
If you’re foraging for himalayan blackberries, look for them from August through October.
Trailing Blackberry
Most people picture himalayan blackberries when they think of wild blackberries, but in Oregon state, the trailing blackberry is another prime option. These berries grow closer to the ground on sprawling vines, as the name suggests. The vines are thinner and more flexible than what you’ll see on the himalayans. The trailing blackberry, sometimes called pacific blackberry, grows anywhere from two to five feet in height. This makes the plant itself much smaller than what you’ll see with himalayans. The vines usually sport three leaflets. They are a native species for Oregon and grow primarily along the coast.
The berries themselves as a bit smaller than the himalayan berries. They are also firmer and have a little less juice. While less juicy, many people say they taste better more consistently. Of course, this is a personal taste.
You’ll start seeing ripe trailing blackberries in July.
Salmonberry
If you were to draw a salmonberry in a black-and-white sketch, you could say that they look a lot like a raspberry. They have a similar shape and texture about them. Where they really differ is in their coloring. Salmonberries are sometimes a shade between pink and red but are often yellow-orange. The bright hue is very similar to the color of salmon eggs, which is where the name comes from.
The salmonberry typically grows along the Oregon coastline. You’ll find it growing near streams. It likes the open sun and wetter soil. The brambles grow from three feet to 12 feet tall.
Salmonberries are an edible treat in Oregon. Once you pick them, they don’t last long. They are delicious berries that are excellent when eaten right off the vine, so enjoying them when you find them is a good idea.
They are sometimes found ripe as early as May and can be spotted through July.
Red Huckleberry
There are quite a few varieties of huckleberry found in Oregon. We’ll start off with the red huckleberries that grow along the coasts. These berries tend to grow in lower elevations, but can be found at up to 3,000 feet as you climb into the mountains. The shrubs, which grow from 3 feet to 12 feet in height, enjoy full sun. You can find them along roadways or sometimes growing out of tree trunks in clear-cut areas.
Red huckleberries are the most common of the vaccinum huckleberries to grow in Oregon. Their full scientific name is vaccinium parvifolium.
Because of the red huckleberry’s bright red coloring, Native Peoples have used the bright berry as fishing bait.
These berries are juicy but very tart. They taste closer to a cranberry. Some people enjoy them straight off the vine. Others prefer to mix them with other berries they forage along the trail to cut the tart flavor. Combining them with trailing blackberries is a popular choice.
As far as huckleberries go, the red variety is often one of the first to appear for the year, ripening in the spring. They are abundant throughout the summer months.
Evergreen Huckleberry
The evergreen huckleberry is sometimes called the winter huckleberry, since it can be found so far into the colder months. Its scientific name is vaccinium ovatum. The evergreen huckleberry is often a black or dark purple color. They are edible and delicious, eaten right off the vine.
Evergreen huckleberries can be found on the coastal side of the cascades and along the coastline.
The berries start appearing in the middle of the summer. They can handle the colder weather, so they can sometimes be found through autumn, but since they are so delicious, this may depend on how many birds and other hikers have spotted them first.
Mountain Huckleberry
The mountain huckleberry can be found in late summer at higher elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet in the Cascade mountains. The mountain huckleberry may be a bit more difficult to find than other berries around, particularly since they are in the mountains, but they are delicious. Most people consider the mountain huckleberry to be the tastiest wild berry you will find in Oregon. As this list shows, there are a lot of options here, so that’s saying something.
The mountain huckleberry will often be found in areas where fires have burned the land. The berries are a deep purple or deep red that looks black. They are sometimes called the black huckleberry.
Mountain huckleberries can be seen in the late summer of August and September into autumn.
Wild Strawberry
Lucky foragers can find the wild strawberry growing low to the ground in the coastal regions and high up in the mountains, anywhere they can get enough space to sprawl out. Wild strawberries are a lot smaller than what you find in the grocery store, but they’re also a lot sweeter. They start off as cute white flowers and grow into small red berries. The darker red they are, the sweeter they’ll be.
You’ll want to keep your eyes open for wild strawberries from spring to fall. They can be found in Oregon anywhere from May to October.
So Much Foraging To Be Had In Oregon
Clearly, there are a lot of options for wild berries in Oregon. Many of the berries listed here can also be found in Washington State, British Columbia, and over into Idaho and down into Northern California. Of course, there are many other berries that haven’t made this list, like black raspberries, red raspberries, and chokecherries. It’s no surprise that the indigenous people of Oregon have been enjoying berries as a main food source in this area for generations.
Always remember, if you’re out foraging for wild berries in Oregon, that you want to practice your identification skills. Be careful to use more than one source when identifying your options, know the dangerous berries around that aren’t edible, and never eat anything that you aren’t confident about. With all of that in mind, also make sure that you’re having a lot of fun. Oregon is a big state with exciting and different climates between the coastal areas and the Cascades, and this offers a lot of opportunities to find exciting treasures while you’re out there enjoying all that nature has to offer.
