Alienated Romantic
A quiet spot
- wiki says
Bilberries are found in very acidic, nutrient-poor soils throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the world. They are closely related to North American wild and cultivated blueberries and huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium. One characteristic of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush instead of clusters, as the blueberry does. Blueberries have more evergreen leaves.
The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of purple. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's are red or purple, heavily staining the fingers, lips, and tongue of consumers eating the raw fruit.
Bilberries are extremely difficult to grow and have small fruits, and are thus seldom cultivated. Fruits are mostly collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands throughout northern and central Europe, where they are plentiful - for example, up to a fifth (17-21%) of the land area of Sweden is covered in Bilberry-bushes. Note that in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Switzerland, it is an everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership, with the exception of private gardens and nature reserves. Bilberries can be picked by a berry-picking rake like lingonberries, but are more susceptible to damage.Best way to harvest bilberries is to carefully pick the fruit one by one by hand using fingers only to avoid damage and uprooting of the plant and squashing the fruit.Bilberries are softer and juicier than blueberries, making them difficult to transport. Because of these factors, the bilberry is only available fresh on markets and in gourmet stores, where in the latter they can cost up to 11 Euros per kilogram. Frozen bilberries however are available all year round in most of Europe.
In Finland, bilberries are collected from forests. They are eaten fresh or can be made in different jams and dishes. The famous one is the bilberry pie (Finnish: mustikkapiirakka, Swedish blåbärspaj).
In Iceland, bilberries (known as aðalbláber, or "prime blueberry") grow predominantly in Vestfirðir and the surrounding area. In most of the country, one finds the closely related bláber occupying the same habitat. Both species are commonly found growing with dwarf birch and crowberries. Wild growth is vast compared to the population of Iceland and wildharvesting is legal. As a consequence, it is a popular activity in August when the berry season peaks. A popular use for bilberries is to eat them with skyr.
In Ireland, the fruit is known as fraughan, from the Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the last Sunday in July, known as "Fraughan Sunday".
Bilberries were also collected at Lughnasadh in August, the first traditional harvest festival of the year, as celebrated by Gaelic people. The crop of bilberries was said to indicate how well the rest of the crops would fare in their harvests later in the year.
In Poland, the fruit are known as jagody. They are gathered in forests. They are hugely popular in Poland, either eaten fresh (mixed with sugar), put into sweet buns as a filling (such a bun is called a jagodzianka and is one of the most popular bakery products during summer in Poland), they are also used to make jams (known for their health benefits when treating someone with diarrhoea). They are sometimes served with śmietana.
The fruits can be eaten fresh or made into jams, fools, juices or pies. In France and Italy they are used as a base for liqueurs and are a popular flavoring for sorbets and other desserts. In Brittany, they are often used as a flavoring for crêpes, and in the Vosges and the Massif Central bilberry tart (tarte aux myrtilles) is a traditional dessert. In Romania they are used as a base for a liquer called afinată - the name of the fruit in Romanian is afină. There is a North Korean Bog Bilberry Brandy (Paektusan Tuljjuksul) reportedly available at the DMZ.
Here, of course, sans actual berries.
A quiet spot
- wiki says
Bilberries are found in very acidic, nutrient-poor soils throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the world. They are closely related to North American wild and cultivated blueberries and huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium. One characteristic of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush instead of clusters, as the blueberry does. Blueberries have more evergreen leaves.
The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of purple. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's are red or purple, heavily staining the fingers, lips, and tongue of consumers eating the raw fruit.
Bilberries are extremely difficult to grow and have small fruits, and are thus seldom cultivated. Fruits are mostly collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands throughout northern and central Europe, where they are plentiful - for example, up to a fifth (17-21%) of the land area of Sweden is covered in Bilberry-bushes. Note that in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Switzerland, it is an everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership, with the exception of private gardens and nature reserves. Bilberries can be picked by a berry-picking rake like lingonberries, but are more susceptible to damage.Best way to harvest bilberries is to carefully pick the fruit one by one by hand using fingers only to avoid damage and uprooting of the plant and squashing the fruit.Bilberries are softer and juicier than blueberries, making them difficult to transport. Because of these factors, the bilberry is only available fresh on markets and in gourmet stores, where in the latter they can cost up to 11 Euros per kilogram. Frozen bilberries however are available all year round in most of Europe.
In Finland, bilberries are collected from forests. They are eaten fresh or can be made in different jams and dishes. The famous one is the bilberry pie (Finnish: mustikkapiirakka, Swedish blåbärspaj).
In Iceland, bilberries (known as aðalbláber, or "prime blueberry") grow predominantly in Vestfirðir and the surrounding area. In most of the country, one finds the closely related bláber occupying the same habitat. Both species are commonly found growing with dwarf birch and crowberries. Wild growth is vast compared to the population of Iceland and wildharvesting is legal. As a consequence, it is a popular activity in August when the berry season peaks. A popular use for bilberries is to eat them with skyr.
In Ireland, the fruit is known as fraughan, from the Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the last Sunday in July, known as "Fraughan Sunday".
Bilberries were also collected at Lughnasadh in August, the first traditional harvest festival of the year, as celebrated by Gaelic people. The crop of bilberries was said to indicate how well the rest of the crops would fare in their harvests later in the year.
In Poland, the fruit are known as jagody. They are gathered in forests. They are hugely popular in Poland, either eaten fresh (mixed with sugar), put into sweet buns as a filling (such a bun is called a jagodzianka and is one of the most popular bakery products during summer in Poland), they are also used to make jams (known for their health benefits when treating someone with diarrhoea). They are sometimes served with śmietana.
The fruits can be eaten fresh or made into jams, fools, juices or pies. In France and Italy they are used as a base for liqueurs and are a popular flavoring for sorbets and other desserts. In Brittany, they are often used as a flavoring for crêpes, and in the Vosges and the Massif Central bilberry tart (tarte aux myrtilles) is a traditional dessert. In Romania they are used as a base for a liquer called afinată - the name of the fruit in Romanian is afină. There is a North Korean Bog Bilberry Brandy (Paektusan Tuljjuksul) reportedly available at the DMZ.
Here, of course, sans actual berries.