Wintergreen

As the weather gets colder, there are a few days where 45°F (7.2°C) feels totally balmy and we take the opportunity to go outside and get some fresh air. Here in New England, the wild food foraging season is mostly over and there are not too many edibles to be found fresh. It is a great time to dig roots if the ground has not frozen, to look for some crabapples and rosehips sweetened by frosts, and keep our eyes open for the green leaves of the wintergreen berry.

Unripe berry

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is known by many common names: checkerberry, tea leaf, deerberry, teaberry, and creeping wintergreen. These names are great hints as to the main use of the plant and its appearance. Wintergreen is an evergreen perennial that spreads by a stem just beneath the surface of the soil. Each stem will produce 3-10 leaves and possibly several berries. If you accidentally pull one up, you'll see the network of woody stems attached to each other as wintergreen can grow in great colonies and patches. The leaves are green, leathery, shiny, hairless, and slightly toothed. They are oval-shaped, broadest beyond the midpoint and coming to a rounded point at the tip, about 1"-2" (2-5 cm) long and 1/2"-1" (1.5-2cm) wide with a lighter colored midrib. Often we find leaves with rusty looking spots, which we don't pick. Tiny white flowers appear in the summer, shaped like bells hanging from the upper leaf axils. The flowers have five terminal lobes, and appear very similar to blueberry flowers, not surprising since they are both in the Ericaceae family. The flowers produce a berry that is light green, ripening to red. The ripe berry has a star-shaped depression on the bottom and is also edible, although mealy. Wintergreen is often found in poor, acidic soil, and we find it under white pines or in moss, and in mixed forests. It ranges from Newfoundland through New England, across the Great Lakes and down to Alabama.

We pick the leaves individually, only gathering one leaf from each stem. Usually the patch is enormous, and will carpet whole areas in the forest with green. Robert dries the leaves by placing them in a paper bag in a dark place for a week, and uses them for tea. The wintergreen flavor is very refreshing. The berries make a nice trailside nibble and breath freshener, and can be added to a smoothie at home. The berries may last all winter if they are not eaten by some deer, chipmunks or wild turkey. The berries are high in vitamin C and contain wintergreen oil. Methyl salicylate, a mild form of aspirin, can be created by brewing and fermenting the leaves for a few days. This wild edible plant is also added to the other herbs and plants that we make herbal teas, or tisanes from.