Wintergreen berry

What it is

Also called teaberry or checkerberry, wintergreen is Gaultheria procumbens, a member of the heath family alongside blueberries. Its fruit measures about 0.6–0.85 cm (¼–⅓ in) across and ranges from bright red to purplish.

The part you eat is a fleshy flower cup, called a calyx, wrapped around a dry seed capsule. Both the fruit and the glossy, leathery leaves carry the plant’s wintergreen scent.

Where it comes from

Wintergreen is native to Canada and the north-central and eastern United States. It grows widely in northern Minnesota’s conifer woods, including the country around Lake Superior, and in northern Wisconsin. The plant once supplied wintergreen flavouring before synthetic versions took over much of that role.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Pennsylvania, teaberry ice cream is a seasonal favourite. It was first made with wild wintergreen; most versions now get their pink colour and minty taste from food colouring and commercial extract. A homemade version adds minced fresh wintergreen leaves and berries to a custard of egg yolks, milk, cream and sugar, strained before churning.

The fresh berries can go into desserts whole or be sprinkled on raw for a pop of wintergreen flavour. Mixed with strawberries and blueberries, they make a topping for panna cotta.

How it's grown

Wintergreen is a small evergreen shrub: it usually stands about 10–15 cm (4–6 in) high. Shallow underground stems let it spread into patches. It likes acidic soil and grows under the light to moderate shade of hardwood woodland as well as among conifers.

Its white flowers hang like tiny urns. Five joined petals form each flower, and the flower cup, the calyx, becomes the red flesh around the fruit.

When and where you'll find it

The berries appear in summer. In Minnesota and Wisconsin they usually ripen in autumn, turning pinkish red, and can stay on the plant through winter to be picked again in spring.

The low, glossy plant also goes into winter container plantings, where its red fruit lasts for many weeks among the evergreen leaves.