salal berries in colour
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Salal (Gaultheria shallon, Ericaceae) is a leathery-leaved shrub native to western North America. Its "berries" (truly sepals) are edible, with a unique flavor. Salal berries were a significant food resource for the native people, who both ate them fresh and dried them into cakes. They were also used as a sweetener, and the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs. The leaves of the plant were also sometimes used to flavor fish soup.
More recently, salal berries are used locally in jams, preserves and pies. They are often combined with Oregon-grape because the tartness of the latter makes up for the mild sweetness of salal.
In the Pacific Northwest, the harvesting of Salal is the heart of a large export of evergreens in which it is sold to florists worldwide for use in floral arrangements.
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