Foraging: Spicebush

I finally took one morning a few weeks ago to spend some time foraging through our woods. My goal was to locate stinging nettles or wood nettles to harvest their nutrient dense seeds and store for the winter.

As I was enjoying the sounds and smells of being in old woods, I started noticing these beautiful red berries on some of the understory trees. I’ve always erred on avoiding bright red berries – categorizing them generally as poisonous until proven safe.

But something in the tear dropped shaped leaves, and luster on the berry sparked something in my memory. Pinching and crumbling a leaf revealed a starp, citrus-like scent that instantly made my mouth water. I grabbed a berry and broke it open. Mostly seed, very little berry meat. A peppery, Laurel Bay, allspice scent spilled from the tiny berry.

I knew I had stumbled upon something useful!

Before harvesting, I did make sure to cross reference the plants with what I suspected them to be. When in the woods, I usually have the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants on hand but will also make sure to take photos of the entire plant, detailed photos of the stems, leaves (and undersides) and any berries or flowers present to post online for identification help later.

Lindera Benzoin

Northern Spicebush. I had a positive ID, but not much information on how to use it. I usually don’t forage for things I’m not sure I will use, but now that I knew what I was looking at, the bushes appeared everywhere throughout the woods. They were the majority of growth in the understory of our 24 wooded acres. Paired with a few pawpaw, barberry, and clear weed – I had no qualms foraging for this wonderfully scented spice.

Once my baskets were full, I spent some time researching the traditional uses for this plant. Unfortunately, those searches didn’t turn up much information. During the Revolutionary War, it was said the settlers used the leaves to make tea to replace what they weren’t receiving from Britain. Another source said the berries could be dried and used as a replacement for allspice. Another still, recommended using the bark as a cinnamon replacement.

What DID I find out about Northern Spicebush?

Not enough to use it medicinally; however, I do plan on using it as a culinary spice.

Lindera Benzoin is a member of the Lauraceae family (laurel family, which include cinnamon and bay laurel). Historically, it was used as a spice and for tea but have not found much information on medicinal uses historically. It is a dioecious plant, which means some plants are male and others are female (interestingly, one site claimed this can also vary from season to season!)

The bushes will produce small clusters of yellow flowers along the branches. These will lead to bright red, shining berries mid-fall that can be singular or in groupings of two or three together. The majority of the berries is the seed, but will pack a punch of aroma if broken open. There will usually be multiple trunks with many branches of light gray bark. It’s leaves alternate on the branches and are smooth edged.

The spicebush is a host for the Spicebush Swallowtail, Promethea silk moth, and the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. The boys will be excited to search next summer for these caterpillars and watch them grow. (We always raise Monarch caterpillars every summer, too).

Another interesting observation I encountered while harvesting, the deeper into the spice bush grove I went and was actively picking leaves or berries, the less I was pestered by the relentless hoard of mosquitoes.

How am I using them?

I dried them for about two weeks, spread out on a single layer in my herb drying racks. Half of those dried berries were stored in a pint-sized mason jar and the other half were ground in our Ninja Personal Blender. (I feel like using the personal blender as opposed to the full blender or food processor gives a better end result and finer grind to the spice.)

I hope to go back and collect leaves for tea and perhaps some bark later in the season. The different aromas the bush contains between the berries, leaves, and bark is quite remarkable. It’s no wonder how it came to it’s common name of Spice Bush.

I tried creating a hydrosol with a mixture of leaves, bark, and berries and while the end product as a whole produced a peppery scent, once bottled the hydrosol lost any scent at all. That’s not to say it doesn’t have active constituents, but as I was hoping to capture the wonderful aroma (which would have been a perfect winter fragrance) the end result was less than desired.

I’m excited for all of the new plants we’re finding and look forward to exploring the woods anew each season!