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FOODIES' HOME PAGE
PLANT PROFILE LIST
NAME: Creeping Snowberry
SPECIES / FAMILY: Gaultheria Hispidula / Ericaceae
OTHER COMMON NAME(S): moxie-plum
CONDITIONS:
shade, wetland forests
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PARTS: |
EDIBLE |
TASTE |
RAW/COOK |
SEASON |
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All |
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Shoots |
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Leaves |
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mint |
RAW/COOK |
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Stalk/Stem |
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Buds |
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Flowers |
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Fruits |
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mint |
RAW/COOK |
Sep/Oct |
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Pods |
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Seeds |
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Nuts |
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Roots |
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Bark |
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PORTION: small
COMMENT: State protected. Fruit - Pleasantly acid and refreshing, with a delicate flavour of wintergreen. An agreeable sub-acid taste, similar to G. shallon. They can be made into delicious preserves. The fruit is about 6mm in diameter. Leaves - raw or cooked. The leaves are used to make a tea. A mild flavour of wintergreen. Said to be superior to china tea.(1)
CAUTION:
NUTRITION/MEDICINAL: "The Algonquin people use an infusion of the leaves as tonic for overeating. They also use the fruit as food. The Anticosti use it as a sedative, and the Micmac take a decoction of the leaves or the whole plant an unspecified purpose. The Ojibwa people use the leaves to make a beverage."(2) “Cancer; Cytostatic; Miscellany. The plant is said to remove the cancerous taint from the body. An infusion of the leaves has been used as a tonic for a person who has overeaten.”(1)
LOOK-A-LIKES:
POISONOUS LOOK-A-LIKES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphoricarpos_albus
OTHER USES:
SOURCE LINKS (may include nutritional and medicinal info, plus other uses):