Salal

A foundation of Coast Salish cuisine

For thousands of years, Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest depended on salal as a major fruit source. The berries were eaten fresh, dried, smoked, and pressed into thick cakes that could be stored for months — a portable, nutritious food essential for winter survival.

Lewis and Clark documented salal during their 1805-1806 expedition, noting its central role in coastal indigenous food systems. The cakes pressed from salal berries impressed the explorers with their density and sweetness.

A floral-design staple

Salal has had a strange afterlife as a floral filler. Its glossy dark green leaves are gathered by the millions in Pacific Northwest forests for use in florist arrangements worldwide — the leaves last weeks in vases without wilting.

The salal leaf trade is a major regional industry, employing thousands of pickers in Oregon and Washington forests. The fruit, by contrast, is barely commercialized — the focus is on the leaves.

A flavor between blueberry and grape

Salal berries have a mild blueberry-grape flavor, less intense than wild huckleberries but pleasant. The fruit is slightly mealier than blueberries with a subtle wintergreen note.

Modern foragers often blend salal with huckleberries for jams and pies — the salal adds bulk and color while huckleberries provide complex flavor. Pure salal jam is sometimes too mild for non-Indigenous palates.

Folk medicine uses

Salal leaves have been used in Pacific Northwest folk medicine for centuries — chewed to treat colic and indigestion, brewed as a tea for coughs and respiratory complaints, and used externally as a poultice for skin issues.

Modern research has identified mild antibacterial and astringent properties in salal leaves, but the plant has not become a major commercial herbal medicine. Its medicinal use remains primarily within Coast Salish communities and Pacific Northwest folk traditions.