How to Identify Wild Berries

If you go backpacking into the wilderness, then it's important to learn many survival skills, including foraging for food. You may get lost or misplace your backpack or simply run out of food. There are many different types of edible wild berries that can be found in the woods. Some of the most common are blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, elderberries, blueberries, wild cherries and juneberries.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Learn where to look for edible wild berries. Most of them can be found in low-lying berry bushes and low fruit trees. Some berries can also be found in meadows, river and pond margins, farm fields and even in marshes. Summer is the best time of year for these berries to appear, but they can be found in the spring, fall and winter depending on the region.

2. Find blackberries and raspberries, which are either red, black, yellow or orange. They are usually found in the sunny areas of the woods near lakes, streams and roads. The edible fruit grows during the summer and you're likely to find these in the East and the Northeast.

3. Look for cranberries in acidic soils or in bogs, especially if you're visiting the Northeast. They can also be found in low-lying shrubs. They are small, round and red just like the cranberries found in the grocery store. Most cranberries are tart in flavor and hard until cooked.

4. Search for the white blossoms of elderberries either in wet woodlands, or along trails or field margins. The dark red-purple berries grow during the summer and fall, and they are best eaten when ripe and juicy. Only the blossoms and fruit are edible; other parts of the plant are poisonous.

5. Seek blueberries that are round and dark blue to black with small seeds. You are likely to find these wild blueberries in open, sunny meadows of North or Central America. They can be eaten raw or cooked.

6. Find wild cherries growing at the end of low-lying cherry tree branches or on wild bushes. They're usually about a quarter-inch round, and are bright red to bluish black. Wild cherries are commonly found in the East or the upper Midwest. Even if some of the cherries are slightly sour, they are still edible.

7. Learn to identify juneberries if you're traveling in the East or the Northwest. They are dark red to purple and shaped like an oversized blueberry, or they look like smaller versions of strawberries. Juneberries grow on 20-foot-tall trees near streams. The fruit is best during midsummer to late summer.

Tips & Warnings

• Take a field guide with you on your backpacking trip if you're inexperienced. This will help distinguish the edible berries from the poisonous ones before you pick them. You can purchase these books at a store or online.
• Avoid any berries that are grown on vines because most of these are poisonous. Vine fruit comes in clusters like grapes, and are dark blue or red. Stay away from any plants with red foliage or stems since most of them are poisonous. Also, some of the berries may be edible, but other parts of the plant are not.
• Don't pick any hard white berries or those that are orange-red. These berries, which are found on tall trees, are usually poison ivy.

[maggie2may]

on 7/10/2009 I'm trying to identify these same berries (I think) in the woods near my house. I think they may be wineberries, but I'm still trying to make certain. Mine are sticky to touch as well.

[aundriea]

on 7/6/2009 I've been picking raspberry's every summer for the past 20 yrs of my life. A few years ago, I came across a bunch of plants next to the railroad tracks, mixed in with the raspberries. They were red fuzzy pods, slightly sticky to touch. About a week later, I returned with my father and the pods had started to open. A very bright red berry had ripened and was very sweet to taste. We're from WV and my father said he too had never seen this type of raspberry plant. We dug some up and have multiplied them over the years. No one has ever seen these types of berries and I can't seem to find them on line. They are about to emerge out of their pods now, it's July 7 and they'll be in their peak during the next 3 weeks. Has anyone heard of these berries?