Berries

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  • salymap
    Late member
    • Nov 2010
    • 5969

    Berries

    Anna, someone brought me in some blueberries. never had them before, but with runny honey and plain icecream they are quite nice. Wouldn't walk miles forthem though
    Last edited by Nick Armstrong; 14-09-13, 21:53.
  • Anna

    #2
    Originally posted by salymap View Post
    It's brightened up since Iposted earlier, just a heavy shower as I popped to the local butcher.

    Anna, someone brought me in some blueberries. never had them before, but with runny honey and plain icecream they are quite nice. Wouldn't walk miles forthem though
    Saly, blueberries (whimberries as we call them here) are not to everyone's taste as they're not very sweet but a recent report has labelled them a 'superfood' as they are bursting with antioxidents, far more than any other fruit. I usually have them with yoghurt (plain or vanllla) or added to breakfast cereal. (Traditional Sunday day out in the S. Wales valleys is a trip up the hills to collect them, I have lovely family photo, taken in the 30s, of family doing that)

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    • amateur51

      #3
      Originally posted by Anna View Post
      Saly, blueberries (whimberries as we call them here) are not to everyone's taste as they're not very sweet but a recent report has labelled them a 'superfood' as they are bursting with antioxidents, far more than any other fruit. I usually have them with yoghurt (plain or vanllla) or added to breakfast cereal. (Traditional Sunday day out in the S. Wales valleys is a trip up the hills to collect them, I have lovely family photo, taken in the 30s, of family doing that)
      Not far from where I stayed recently in SW France there were myrtilles a-plenty both in situ and available at a farm. They reminded me of the whimberries of my childhood in terms of size and flavour and we had several tarts made from them
      Last edited by Nick Armstrong; 14-09-13, 21:53.

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      • Nick Armstrong
        Host
        • Nov 2010
        • 26598

        #4
        Berries

        Originally posted by Anna View Post
        Saly, blueberries (whimberries as we call them here) are not to everyone's taste as they're not very sweet but a recent report has labelled them a 'superfood' as they are bursting with antioxidents, far more than any other fruit. I usually have them with yoghurt (plain or vanllla) or added to breakfast cereal.
        Just found where there was berry talk, and thought it was worth transferring to a thread, if for no other reason than to share the nicest snack discovery lately - this mix of dried berries, a pack of which is now always in the fridge for that hunger-abating handful once in a while...

        Forest Feast 'Wonder Berries' - a succulent mix of dried

        Blueberries (8%)
        Strawberries (8%)
        Cranberries (26%)
        Goji Berries (26%)
        Physalis (17%),
        Blackcurrants (15%)

        Delicious.

        Available from many places inc. your favourite supermarket Anna:

        Last edited by Nick Armstrong; 14-09-13, 22:47.
        "...the isle is full of noises,
        Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
        Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
        Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

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        • johnb
          Full Member
          • Mar 2007
          • 2903

          #5
          Originally posted by Anna View Post
          Saly, blueberries (whimberries as we call them here) are not to everyone's taste as they're not very sweet but a recent report has labelled them a 'superfood' as they are bursting with antioxidents, far more than any other fruit. I usually have them with yoghurt (plain or vanllla) or added to breakfast cereal. (Traditional Sunday day out in the S. Wales valleys is a trip up the hills to collect them, I have lovely family photo, taken in the 30s, of family doing that)
          When I was a child we often had winberries. They were absolutely delicious and stained our mouths dark red when eaten raw. My mother usually baked them into a pie.

          As far as I can tell winberries are related to, but quite different from, blueberries. It seems that winberries are also called whimberries.

          Comment

          • Barbirollians
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 11833

            #6
            Originally posted by amateur51 View Post
            Not far from where I stayed recently in SW France there were myrtilles a-plenty both in situ and available at a farm. They reminded me of the whimberries of my childhood in terms of size and flavour and we had several tarts made from them
            Not near Bergerac by any chance ? I found some near there in August .

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            • Pikaia

              #7
              Huckleberries are related to blueberries, and I had some huckleberry ice-cream when I went to the USA. The flavour was very good, but quite different from blueberries.

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              • hedgehog

                #8
                Originally posted by Pikaia View Post
                Huckleberries are related to blueberries, and I had some huckleberry ice-cream when I went to the USA. The flavour was very good, but quite different from blueberries.
                What are sold commercially are usually blueberries from the North American varieties of vaccinium corymbosum. I think huckleberries are another species of vaccinium as are the European blueberries/bilberries/whimberries & etc: vaccinium myrtillus (Hence Am's myrtilles). There are a number of other edible berries in the vaccinium genus such as the red vaccinium vitus-idaea (cowberry) and, indeed the cranberry (of which there are many types).

                They all taste different, some more different than others
                Last edited by Guest; 14-09-13, 23:39.

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                • jean
                  Late member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 7100

                  #9
                  The main difference between our native varieties and the cultivated/imported ones is the size. I don't know why they grow so well in Poland, but when I lived there I used to see children at the side of the road selling jam jars full of enormous blueberries.

                  As a child on holiday in Ireland I heard the lovely name I thought of as frocken, though it's really

                  ...fraughan, from the Irish fraochán...

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                  • Mary Chambers
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 1963

                    #10
                    We called the wild ones bilberries, though I was aware they were sometimes called whinberries. They taste a lot more interesting than the commercial blueberries, but they certainly do stain everything purple. I always associated Keats's 'purple-stained mouth' with them, though I knew perfectly well it was not what he meant. And what about 'Whinnymuir' and 'the whinnes shall prick thee to the bare bane' in the Lyke-wake Dirge? It seems that 'whin' there means thorn, but whinberry plants aren't prickly.

                    I like these threads that send my mind down unlikely paths at breakfast time

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                    • jean
                      Late member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 7100

                      #11
                      Looks as if whimberry is a spelling derived from the pronunciation of whinberry!

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                      • Bryn
                        Banned
                        • Mar 2007
                        • 24688

                        #12
                        Originally posted by jean View Post
                        Looks as if whimberry is a spelling derived from the pronunciation of whinberry!
                        Whether that is the case or not, the Welsh side of my family always referred to them a whimberries, and gorged on them when in season, as did I when visiting. I had to remember to bring copious quantities back to Penge for an aunt to make her very fine whimberry pies.

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                        • amateur51

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
                          Not near Bergerac by any chance ? I found some near there in August .
                          In the Drôme, Barbs - she was selling boxes by the kg - superb

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                          • Anna

                            #14
                            Here are the young men of Grandmother's family (all miners) after collecting whimberries up the mountains of South Wales on a Sunday afternoon (actually, they look like a bunch of ruffians!) Unsure when photo was taken - 1920s?

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                            • eighthobstruction
                              Full Member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 6455

                              #15
                              Are you sure your Grandmother didn't live in Sicily [chap looks like he's just about to produce some heat from his left armpit.....

                              ....Elderberries blown off trees in high wind....
                              bong ching

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