Whipped Soapberries (sxusem)

As tradition built it

Whipped Soapberries (sxusem)

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 cups soapberries (Shepherdia canadensis)
• as available water, roughly equal parts to crushed berries
• to taste camas, fireweed, salal or thimbleberry, to sweeten

Method

1. Gather soapberries by laying a sheet under the bush and beating the branches with a stick so ripe fruit falls free.
2. Mix crushed berries with roughly equal parts water.
3. Beat with a hand whisk of peeled willow branches tied to a stick until the saponins in the fruit froth the mixture to a texture compared to whipped cream.
4. Sweeten with camas, fireweed, salal or thimbleberry, since wild soapberry bitterness varies considerably bush to bush.
5. Serve traditionally at large gatherings in wooden spoons.

Notes

The strongest documented origin for sxusem sits in Interior Salish territory rather than the coast specifically; its place in this chapter reflects its living place in contemporary Coast Salish teaching, Tulalip knowledge keeper Inez Bill among those who teach it, rather than a claim that it is exclusively a coastal dish.

What a modern chef changes

A stand mixer for the whisk, and nothing more

Method

1. Use a stand mixer or a whisk attachment to reproduce the traditional willow whisk's mechanical action reliably, which is honestly all that is needed: the foam's structure comes entirely from the berries' own saponins, not from any equipment.
2. Resist adding stabilisers, sous vide infusions or anything else that would obscure a foam that already works perfectly on its own terms.
3. The one addition worth naming, offered as this chapter's own idea rather than a documented practice: hold the foam very briefly under a closed Big Green Egg lid, not actually cooked, for a barely perceptible smoky top note echoing the fire the berries would traditionally have been gathered near.