It’s no secret that wintergreen (teaberry) is one of my favorite plants ever. I use it often to make wintergreen extract, which I then use to make the most amazing homemade teaberry ice cream. This year, I’ve infused the leaves into oil to make wintergreen oil salve.

Wintergreen has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Although no clinical data is available, American Indians reportedly used wintergreen for treating back pain, headaches, and other aches and pains.

And wintergreen has also been used in folk medicine to treat sore muscles, arthritis, nerve pain, and menstrual cramps.

Foraging Wintergreen

Wintergreen is one of the few plants that, unless there is deep snow, I can forage year-round.

American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is a low-growing perennial evergreen, and is easy to forage. Also known as teaberry, it can be found in most of the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. A range map may be found here.

Wintergreen prefers mountainous woodlands with dappled sunlight, and tends to grow among other plants of the Heath (or Ericacea) family (like blueberry, mountain laurel, and cranberry).

The leaves are oval and shiny and are generally about 2″ long. It often forms a thick carpet in acidic soil.

A red berry is formed at the base of its leaves in late summer; the berry will stay on the plant right into early winter. You’ll get the lovely taste of teaberry when you bite into a berry, but the texture is waxy and dry; I prefer not to swallow.

The young leaves of mountain laurel can often resemble wintergreen, but use caution as mountain laurel is toxic.

Crushing the leaf is the surest way to positively identify wintergreen. If crushing it doesn’t produce a minty, wintergreen aroma, it’s not wintergreen.

In my area, wintergreen can be quite abundant. I know areas where I could harvest leaves for hours and still have plenty left. That’s not always the case, however, and the amount you harvest should always take this into consideration. Learn more about the ethics of foraging here.

Where we harvest, the wintergreen rarely sees more than dappled sunlight, and therefore does not produce a lot of berries. While wintergreen does prefer shadier areas, it will also grow in full sun, and those are the areas where you will find more of the berries. The leaves will often be red in color.

Wintergreen Oil Salve

The salve I make is simply chopped and dried wintergreen leaves, olive oil, and beeswax. Sunflower or sweet almond oil may used as well, and wintergreen essential oil may be added to boost the pain relieving properties.

The ingredients are gently heated together until the beeswax melts. I use a simple homemade double boiler to be certain I’m keeping my infusion away from the heat.

The active ingredient in wintergreen, methyl salicylate, is closely related to aspirin and has similar properties; products containing wintergreen oil are often used as a topical pain reliever.

Cautions – Not Recommended For

children – the essential oil especially can be dangerous to children
pregnant or nursing women
those allergic to aspirin

I’m holding wintergreen and sassafras root. I’m using these for homemade root beer!