WNTERGREEN HIDES IN SNOW
Jump to Page Navigation buttons===>Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens
or Winisibugons, dirty-leaf, Ojibwe) is a
flavor you probably know from
synthetics in gum,or toothpaste. Even
when natural, it is not made from this
little plant but leached from green twigs
of sweet birch.Wintergreen is a shrubby plant. Its long stem seems like a rootstock, creeping horizontally just under or
on the ground. Leafy flowering and fruiting sprigs 3 - 6 " high, are really branches from the creeping stem.
Leaves are oval, glossy green above, lighter below, often blotched with purple and in late fall or winter
often entirely red. Fruit, as shown is bright glossy red berries.Here is a picture of the wintergreen's midsummer bellshaped white
flowers. Wintergreen leaves can be gathered any time. They usually
grow in woodsy shade, from nothern maritime Canada west to the
Dakotas and south to Georgia. In the winter, the plant may be covered
with snow.Berries persist (until birds or animals eat them) and the green leaves
-- liked by deer, moose and elk -- remain when snow is scraped away
from the plant. Leaves or berries, chewed on in the woods, make a
minty nibble.It may be hard to find dried leaves to make wintergreen tea in city
health food co-ops. Because they are so widespread, easy to gather and
to recognize, many co-ops carried them for a while. But they didn';t
know anything about how to prepare them, so customers were
disappointed that teas made of the dried leaves perfumed th air with
mint, but were tasteless. Actually, fresy leaves have to be fermented inNative Foods -- Wintergreen Tea
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/wintergr.html (1 of 2) [5/17/2004 11:48:02 AM]