Wild Berry Bonanza: Juicy Jewels of the Great Lakes Summer

Part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager, Lisa M. Rose with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices.”

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Summer in the Great Lakes region is a magical time, with long, warm days and the sweet taste of freshly picked berries. For those who know where to look, the forests, fields, and trails of this region offer a bounty of nature’s treasures: mulberries, serviceberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, wild blueberries and blackberries. Use this as your guide to gathering these sweet jewels, and then bring them into the kitchen for a Great Lakes Wild Berry pie — a culinary delight that captures the essence of a wild, foraged Great Lakes summer.

Mulberries

Morus alba, M. rubra

Edible parts: Berries

The adventure begins in early summer when the mulberries are ripe for picking. These berries, often found on small trees in urban areas and along trails, are the first to ripen. Their mild flavor and abundant harvest make them a staple for any berry forager. Though not as sweet or tart as the other berries, they add a subtle, cooling note to the pie. The mulberry trees, often overlooked, offer their bounty without fanfare. The dark and juicy berries are a testament to the hidden treasures of the city. 

How to Identify: Mulberry is often most noticed as a small tree about 25 to 30 feet tall (though it can grow as tall as 70 feet). Its young bark ranges from yellowish-brown to orangish-brown with scattered large white lenticels, which are the raised pores of a tree that look like little stretch marks. Older bark is brown and ridged with an occasional glimpse of orange inner bark. If the roots are unearthed by erosion or contraction, you will see that they are distinctively orange.

The leaves of both species are alternate, simple, more or less heart-shaped, and palmately veined with three main veins; they have rounded teeth along the edges. Both white and red mulberry trees may have mitten-shaped leaves. Leaves of white mulberry (Morus alba) are dark and shiny on top and feel smooth. Those of red mulberry (M. rubra) are not shiny and feel rough. Its fruits are longer, juicier, and better tasting than the white.

Where and When to Gather: White mulberry is a common ornamental planting in gardens, courtyards, and municipal parks, and it has naturalized in some areas. Red mulberry is commonly found at the edge of the woods and along trails in partial sun and shade. Around the summer solstice, the juicy fruits of the mulberry can cause a mess wherever they fall, staining everything they touch with their black juice.

Serviceberries

Amelanchier species

Edible parts: Berries

By mid-June, the serviceberries are ready. These berries, with their sweet, balanced flavor, are found in hedgerows and open woodlands. The small, dark purple fruits are easy to gather and make a delightful addition to the berry medley. Their flavor, a cross between a cherry and a blueberry, pairs perfectly with the other berries in the pie. 

How to Identify: Serviceberry is a small, fruiting, deciduous shrub or small tree that grows to a height of 20 feet. Its bark is smooth gray with dark vertical furrows. The leaves are oval, serrated, smooth or slightly hairy, and alternate along the stem. The white, five-petaled flowers bloom in early spring, and dark purple fruit in racemes ripens in midsummer. Each fruit has a small crown at the base, similar to an apple or pear.

Where and When to Gather: Serviceberry is found in the wild along hedgerows and in open woodlands. It is a common landscape plant whose fruits usually go unnoticed. The berries ripen in mid- to late June.

Wild Strawberries

Fragaria species

Edible parts: Berries

The hunt for wild strawberries begins around the summer solstice. These tiny, intensely flavored berries are a true treasure of the Great Lakes summer. Found in open fields and meadows, the wild strawberries are a labor of love to collect but are well worth the effort. The small, red berries, hidden among the grass, require patience and a keen eye. Each one, a ruby-red gem, is a reward for the diligent forager. The taste, sweet and intense, is a reminder of summer’s fleeting beauty.

How to Identify: Wild strawberry is a low-growing, herbaceous plant with toothed, three-part leaflets at the end of a hairy, slender stem. The white flower clusters begin to bloom in late spring and give way to small, red strawberry fruit in early summer. The leaves remain on the plant through the fall and turn a deep red color in autumn, helpful for off-season identification.

Where and When to Gather: Wild strawberries can be found in open fields and meadows; moist, well-drained soils of hedgerows; and along the edges of the wood, oftentimes in tall grasses. The berries ripen about the same time as the summer solstice. Finding a patch large enough for a big harvest can be tough, but it’s worth the effort of seeking out (and then certainly keeping a secret).

Raspberries

Rubus idaeus, R. occidentalis

Edible parts: Berries, leaves, root

Next, it’s time to seek out the raspberry patches. Both red and black raspberries grow abundantly at the edges of woodlands and along trails. Black raspberries, with their deep color and intense sweetness, are ready for picking by early July. Raspberries — both red and black — are a favorite summer fruit. Whether enjoyed by the handful trailside while walking to the beach or gathered for a summer fruit pie, the raspberry is easy to identify and a must-gather for the forager.

How to Identify: The thorny canes of red (Rubus idaeus) and black (Rubus occidentalis) raspberry are sprawling and grow in large stands at the edges of the woodlands. The leaves are toothed with pointed ends, grow alternately in leaflets of three to five along the canes, and are green with a silvery underside. Raspberry flowers in late spring. Black raspberries ripen in midsummer, while red raspberries ripen in late summer to early fall.

Where and When to Gather: The raspberry is a native woodland plant found at the edges of the woods, trails, hedgerows, and ditches. The leaves can be gathered for tea in early spring and late fall.

Blueberry

Vaccinium species

Edible parts: Berries

Wild blueberries are some of the most delicious berries to harvest in the summer. Found along the edges of the woodland, bogs, and open fields in July and early August. Fair warning, you may want mosquito protection as you head out to gather these delights! Picking berries by hand will guarantee a cleaner pick than with a harvest rake, which will also invariably pull in unwanted twigs, bugs, debris, and undesirable fruit. Time saved in the field with the rake is lost to sorting in the kitchen. 

How to Identify: Blueberries grow in colonies. Species vary in height, ranging from small 6 to 8 inch ground cover in the woods to a towering, deciduous shrub of more than 10 feet in open fields and bogs. All berries in the genus Vaccinium are edible and interchangeable in use. The bark of the blueberry is mostly gray and can sometimes have a bit of green or even pink along the woody stems. The leaves vary in size, but are 1 to 2 inches long, ovate, and simple, with smooth to slightly toothed edges. The whitish pink flowers bloom in late spring and give way to the delicious fruits that ripen in mid- to late summer.

Berries are blue to nearly black and can range in size from 1/4 to 3/4 inch in diameter, borne singly or in small clusters. The berry’s sweetness is both species and season dependent. Smaller berries have a tendency to be more sour than the large varieties, and weather has an effect on the plumpness of the berry.

Where and When to Gather: The wild blueberry harvest peaks in August. Seek out wild blueberries in bogs and in sunny open fields. When you discover a wild blueberry stand, be ready for an abundance of picking.

Blackberries

Rubus species

Edible parts: Berries, leaves, roots

The adventure continues into mid-July when the sun is high and the blackberries are ripe for picking. Armed with pails and protective gloves to fend off the prickly thorns, foragers venture into the sunny edges of the woods. The blackberry bramble, a sprawling plant covered in thorns, hides clusters of dark, juicy berries that are perfect for a summer pie. The dark, jammy fruit of the blackberry is a forager’s favorite midsummer find along a sunny trail. The plant offers an abundance of food: its leaves and roots can be used for tea, and the berry makes delicious eating.

How to Identify: Common in sandy, well-drained soils, blackberry is usually found as a large stand of plants in the sun on the edges of the wood. A bramble of a plant reaching heights to 5 feet, the blackberry is covered in thorns; its divided leaf clusters hold three to five serrated and ovate leaflets which have a prickly midrib. The blackberry blooms in late spring with white, five-petaled flowers that bear seedy, slightly hairy fruit that ripens into dark purple berries in late summer.

Where and When to Gather: The leaves can be gathered in early spring for tea, and the berries can be gathered by the bucketful in mid- to late summer. If you harvest the root, wait until fall when the plant begins to die back after harvest.

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Catch more news at Great Lakes Now: 

Cornish Roots & Nettle Shoots: A Foraged Pasty Recipe from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Foraging’s Spring Backyard Splendor: Dandelions and Violets

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Featured image: Raspberries fresh for the eating. (Photo Credit: Lisa M. Rose)