We strongly recommend foraging with someone experienced, or looking at pictures and descriptions from several online or printed resources to be sure of identification before harvesting and eating. Bluebird Forest Garden and the author of this content assume no liability for improper identification of wild foods.
Apple While not native to Idaho, apple trees have established themselves as a wild and enduring part of the ecosystem, especially around old homesteads. The quality varies, but they are definitely worth noting, and going back when the fruit is ripe. Usually wild apple trees make good sauce and cider and drying apples, not crisp keeping apples like modern varieties. Apple trees can be recognized by their arching main branches, slightly fuzzy leaves, smooth bark and lack of thorns.
Black cap raspberries These are native black raspberries, and one of my favorite tasting berries of all. They grow in disturbed areas, such as burns or logged areas. The canes have strong, sharp thorns and are a very light green in their first year and become a distinctive purple the second year. The berries are purple-black when ripe and are best eaten fresh.
Blackberries, wild or dewberry This is another native berry that ranks very high on the flavor scale. They like moist, sunny areas, near creeks or in clearings near springs. Some of the vines are male, others are female. Only the female vines bear fruit. The fruit is smaller than a cultivated blackberry, but make up in flavor what they lack in size. They can get up to 1/2 inch long. The vines trail along the ground (hence the common name, trailing blackberry) and are long, thin and varicolored green, red and purple.
Blackberries, Himalayan As their name suggests these blackberries come from another part of the world, but have naturalized and are now growing wild in most parts of western Idaho, especially on hillsides, near rivers and creeks. They form large bramble bushes with thick green to red canes and large thorns. The fruits are more round than the typical, conical domestic blackberries. They are great canned, and unlike the native blackberry, they can often be found in sufficient quantities to be worth preserving.
Cherry There are native bitter cherries as well as many varieties of domestic cherries gone wild in this part of Idaho. The native bitter cherries can be eaten, however the seeds contain high amounts of a cyanide-producing chemical, so avoid the seeds and avoid eating too many of the cherries if they are very bitter. Pregnant women should be especially careful. The bitter cherry has many medicinal uses as well. The larger, darker sweet cherries are not native, but quite common around roads and old homesteads. The bark of cherry has horizontal color bands and peels horizontally as well.
Elderberries These native berries grow on a small tree with foliage that looks tropical due to their pinately divided leaves . The stems are hollow with pith inside. The berries are solid, round, and blue, growing in large, branching clusters. Elderberries are easy to dry for winter eating or tea making. Red elderberries are not generally considered edible. The blue and black elderberries should be cooked before eating as raw elderberries may cause severe nausea in some people. I like to dry them and add them to my oatmeal (before I cook it) in the winter time.
False Soloman’s Seal This small native plant grows from a perennial tuber that is also edible. The berries are redish or striped, ripen in late summer, and are said to be laxative if eaten in large quantities. It’s a berry I have on my list to try for the first time this summer! The berries of the very similar true Soloman’s Seal are not good to eat, so be sure you can tell them apart. The False Soloman’s Seal berries are clustered at the end of the stem beyond the leaves, and ripen to bright red or striped. The true Soloman’s Seal berries dangle in a long row along the underneath of the stem below the leaves, and ripen to blue.
Hawthorn This native bush has edible as well as medicinal qualities. It’s a compact tree with large thorns and dark blue to purple berries. The berries have large seeds and aren’t very flavorful, but they are a good survival food to know about, and if you are into natural medicines, they are a great plant to know.
Huckleberries These are one of the most sought after of the native wild berries in Idaho. They have a unique tart flavor. They grow in moist areas that get lots of snow, mostly above 2,800 feet elevation. The berries are solid, small, purple-blue when ripe and round with a little flat depression on the blossom end. I usually have only found enough for a little snack, but further up in the mountain clearings, people gather them by the gallon for pies and such, even though it can easily take an hour to pick a gallon!
Mountain Ash berries I’ve seen the native Mountain Ash Berries growing here, but only on private property, so I haven’t tried them yet. The berries are bright red-orange, grow in large, dangling clusters, ripen late in the summer, and grow on small hardwood trees that have pinately divided leaves like other ash trees.
Oregon Grape is a native perennial evergreen shrub that produces lovely yellow flowers and edible blue berries that may also be made into preserves or juice. It grows on dry rocky hillsides and is easy to recognize by its very tough, pointed, holly-like leaves.
Pear These are not native to Idaho but they are quite common around old homesteads and some have fruit that is quite good; some are so awful you will want to spit them out. Almost all the wild ones have big thorns, but pears are worth it when you find a good tree. Pear trees tend to be quite upright, fairly smooth bark and generally a larger trunk that the wild plums, with much larger winter buds.
Plum, wild We’ve found native plums in the Selway river country and all the way down to Clearwater County. They grow near rivers, or on sunny hillsides near creeks and are a favorite food of the black bears and raccoons. They grow on small, thorny hardwood trees. They are smaller than domestic plum varieties, but just as tasty.
Rose hips These are the fruits of rose bushes. Here, we have the delicate woods roses and briar roses. The woods rose hips are best in mid-summer, before the bugs start to eat them. They are elongated, smooth and bright pink to orange. The bushes are usually waist high, have small spiny thorns and grow in moderately dense forests. The briar rose bushes have large thorns and grow in clearings and old fields, dry hillsides near creeks and rivers. Their hips are best harvested after a good frost or two, which softens and sweetens them. Rose hips are extremely high in vitamin C.
Saskatoon, or Service berries These were staples for the Native Americans, and now are for me as well. The round, purple-blue berries are about this size of huckleberries, but without the flat spot on the blossom end. They grow in small clusters on large hardwood bushes. Service berries have wonderful flavor and are very hearty. The bushes are tall, with smooth, gray trunks and small leaves that look a lot like alder leaves. We usually have to use a strap with a hook to pull the bushes down so we can reach the fruit. Some Service berry bushes produce nice big berries, others hardly produce at all. Some nursery catalogs such as Raintree now offer named varieties of these berry bushes.
Strawberries, wild or alpine These native strawberries don’t get very big in this part of Idaho, but they are a tasty treat when I do find them. They grow in many different areas, but usually only fruit when they have plenty of sunshine and water. (However, the leaves are also edible, so if there are enough leaves to take a few, you won’t be totally disappointed!) Their leaves are smaller and lighter green than domestic strawberries. The leaf stems and runners are usually redish, and the berries look just like miniature garden strawberries (because that’s what they are!)
Thimble berries These native berries are some of the most flavorful you’ll find. They are also very perishable, but may be frozen to preserve them. They look a lot like raspberries, but are a pure vivid red, and the stems are thornless, but hairy. The leaves are large, light green and shaped like a maple leaf. The pith-filled canes angle slightly at every leaf joint. Thimble berries ripen in early to mid summer and they ripen so fast (and drop or get eaten by insects so quickly) that they pretty much need picked every day. They like moist, deep soil and mostly sunny conditions.
