Harvesting Madrone Bark for Culinary Uses

So why would I display a picture of rose hip marmalade on a post about Madrone bark harvesting? Below you'll find my secret ingredient made from the bark of the Madrone (Arbutus mensiesii). All too common in the Pacific Northwest, I need not introduce it to those who live here but how many of us knew that the tree has culinary uses? Many Native Peoples used it to make tea and dried the berries to use in cakes during the long winter months. As of late the bark has shown up on the Herbfarm menu for their Spring Foragers dinner of where I had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday.

The Pacific Madrone can be found from British Columbia to Baja California. A broadleaf evergreen that sheds it's bark in late Summer and produces berries from Spring blooms in the Autumn, can be used in culinary dishes that require tannin to balance high acids. A tea can be made and used to infuse a depth into foods that can benefit from another layer of flavor such as stews and soups. 

I have two small Madrone in my backyard of which I am harvesting the bark to store for use throughout the year. I used the bark to make a tea. It has a lovely mellow earthy flavor and beautiful reddish brown hue. Making the tea is easy and like any other tea you can steep it as long as you like for a stronger, more concentrated taste.

For 4 cups of tea boil 2 cups of bark "scrolls" until desired tea strength is reached. Pour through a sieve to clarify.

I used this to add liquid, balance the acid, add tannin and flavor depth to my Rose Hip Marmalade.

Rose hips are mostly seeds. It will take you about 45 minutes to 1 hour to clean the hips for the recipe below.

7 cups of cleaned rose hips chopped (mine were from Rugosa roses). They should look like this if you use a food processor to chop the cleaned hips.

2 cups washed and de-stemed hips run through a Kitchen Aid (or similar) food mill. This will cut down on cleaning time too! This will create a mash. 

I processed some of the hips to create a mash to suspend the chopped pieces.

5 cups of sugar

4 cups Madrone Bark Tea

2 medium lemons juiced and zest the rind into small strips

Mix together chopped and milled rose hips and lemon rind strips

Follow the Ball Complete Book for Home Preserving recipe for Marmalade using the Madrone bark tea as a substitute for liquid.

The result is a bright citrusy mouthful calmed by tannic earthy notes. Madrone bark has other uses too only limited by your imagination. I've seen it used in ice cream, sauces, to make Chinese tea eggs, and is a suitable wood for smoking meats. If you've experimented with Madrone bark or Madrone wood let me know what you've made and how you made it.