Thread: Брусника!

The forest is full of these where I am at the moment.
What do you do with them in Russia?
In Sweden people make jam and juice from them - but it needs a lot of sugar to taste good! Does anyone know what these are called in English? It's not in my dictionary and I have never seen them grow in England (they like it a bit colder!)

Брусникы!

Брусника. This word doesn't have a plural. If it had, it would be брусники, not брусникы. Yes, it's very bitter. Ithink it will stay good for a long time even if one just pour with water, but I'm not sure.

Ooops! Well my Russian studies are temporarily on hold, I guess it's beginning to show.
Ok I fixed it!

Pictures on internet for lignonberry look like the ones you posted.
.Lingonberry jam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.Lingonberries - Google Search
.

We use it as filler for any kind of pastry or we make a juice (морс) which is extremely popular for those who got cold or similar illness. Actually I had thought that it is quite a typical Russian berry but once I got a bottle of "Sylt Lingon" in IKEA and it tested good. This way I became aware of popularity of this berry in Sweden.

Interesting, Coffeecup! I have no idea how healthy they are, but blueberries that sometimes grow alongside the lingonberries are supposed to be extremely healthy. I like the blueberries better but this year there are not a lot of them at all for some reason. Normally there are more of these berries than anyone can pick.

I guess these berries probably grow in Canada and maybe the USA too. I wonder what they do with them there. Blueberry muffins I've seen, and I think that's American.

One point to note is to get the healthy effect of the lingonberry the juice should be warm enough.

I like to eat fresh-picked брусника and черника with milk. You put some berries in a soup-plate and then pour cold milk there. Then you eat it with a spoon like a soup. It was one of my favorite summer dishes during my childhood. You can also do this with a forest малина.

Berries with cream is something my family used to do, малина very nice this way and земляника. With the черника, muffins as Hanna said, and also pies common.

Something my family used to do with various kinds of berries/fruits is a pie using fresh fruit called a glace pie. Pie shell is cooked and cooled and thin layer of cream cheese put on pie crust. Fresh fruit goes in to a glace mixture, and this poured into cooled pie shell, and chilled. The mix gels, and so can then be cut and served. Very nice summer pie. The pie crust can be of any type. http://itsybitsyfoodies.com/french-s...rry-glace-pie/

The 'himalaya blackberry' when really sweet and ripe is nice in glace pie. This blackberry is an a problem weed on west coast of America, but it has nice fruit. himalayan blackberry - Google Search
.
.

Looks yummy Seraph! American desserts are the BEST!
Yeah, I've seen LOTS of wild blackberry in England too. For some reason nobody bothers to pick it, maybe they see it as a weed too. But I picked some once and made a pie for when I had some people over. They just thought I was a bit eccentric to pic the Blackberries myself instead of buying them in the shop. Ironically they were growing closer to my house than the nearest grocery shop.

In England they grow blueberries in greenhouses (while the Swedish ones are from the forest). The English ones are the size of a rasberry.... three times the size of the Swedish bluberries but with a blander taste. They look like monsters!

Hanna, are you sure I think the berries on your second pic are actually blueberries? They look like bilberries to me, although, of course, both species look alike. When I was a kid, I lived in a place where there were lots of both брусника and bilberries in the nearby forests . I liked bilberries, never could get enough of them, because they are hard to pick in large quantities. Same story with the tiny and delicious forest strawberries. Used to take a lot of time to fill a glass jar. Garden strawberries just don't taste the same, too bland, too watery. Even the sweetest varieties can't compare with the wild ones. As to lingonberries aka cowberries, we made pies with them (with a lot of sugar), or squashed them with a lot of water to produce a bitter-sourish cold drink that was quite refreshing.

Translationsnmru, well, I made a picture search for "blåbär" (blueberries) and got that one. And certainly, I personally think it looks like blueberries. I have picked hundreds of litres in my life, so I should know...

On the other hand, I don't actually know what the word bilberry means.
Maybe it's a variation of blueberry?


Edit:
Ooops I googled bilberry and good lots of pictures of blueberries! (according to me)...
Now I am confused. I call both of them blueberries, what's the difference?
I know there are different looks of blueberries, some with darker leaves and some with lighter leaves... Is that the difference?


Aha.... Ok, English has two words for this, Swedish has only one!
What about Russian?

Note that in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden 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. 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 25 Euro per pound. 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).

Hannah, your blåbär is actually a variety of bilberry . The true blueberry is North American in origin and I doubt you can find it growing wild in Europe. In Russia, we have черника and голубика. The latter is also a species of the bilberry group, it looks very similar, but tastes differently.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Interesting, Coffeecup! I have no idea how healthy they are, but blueberries that sometimes grow alongside the lingonberries are supposed to be extremely healthy. I like the blueberries better but this year there are not a lot of them at all for some reason. Normally there are more of these berries than anyone can pick.

I guess these berries probably grow in Canada and maybe the USA too. I wonder what they do with them there. Blueberry muffins I've seen, and I think that's American.

"черника" growths in Northern Europe and this Russian word comes from a word "черный" which means "black". This berry is black inside

Northern American blueberry is more green-ish inside and it is much sweeter. Another close Northern American berry called huckleberry but it tastes different too
The closest Northern American berry would be billberry but I personally never tried it, so I cannot say if it tastes the same as "черника". Maybe Russians from California can say some words about it


BTW
Blackberries (at least that's how they called in some places in US) look like this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bl...blackberry.jpg
And Russian word for them is "шелковица"
These berries grow on quite tall trees

Ah ok, I understand. They both grow wild in Sweden, all over the place. I was aware of the difference but I didn't realise that there was actually a difference in species. The bilberry bushes have lighter leaves and blue/lavender berries and the and the "real" blueberries are almost black and the bushes are a bit smaller with darker leaves. I have noticed that, but I thought it had to do with how much light they got or something like that.
But I am no botanist.
I would guess you have both kinds in Russia too?

Originally Posted by Hanna

The bilberry bushes have lighter leaves and blue/lavender berries and the

Do they look like this?
голубика - Google Search

If they do then it's "голубика" but "голубика" doesn't grow in North America

Originally Posted by Hanna

and the "real" blueberries are almost black and the bushes are a bit smaller with darker leaves. I have noticed that, but I thought it had to do with how much light they got or something like that.

This sounds like "черника" to me


You might have seen these berries in Sweden too
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Костяника
Морошка — Википедия (can be called couldberry)

Unfortuantely they don't grow in Eastern US either, I miss them But Ikea treats me with cloudberry jam - yum, yum

Originally Posted by Doomer

Do they look like this?
голубика - Google Search

No.. those berries are more oval and the rushes are like bushes.... The ones I mean grow in the forest and the plants get no higher than a few decimeters.

Like this: If you look closely you can see that there are blueberry (or is it bilberry...) plants everywhere on the ground.



Gosh, you know this is an area of the English language which I am really not familiar with.
I have no idea what I am talking about, lol!!!

If they do then it's "голубика" but "голубика" doesn't grow in North America

This sounds like "черника" to me

You might have seen these berries in Sweden too
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Костяника
Морошка — Википедия (can be called couldberry)

Морошка - Yes, they are really common in Sweden, but they don't grow anywhere near Stockholm so I have personally never picked them. But I like the taste! My aunt picks a lot of them every year and makes jam with them.
I didn't even know what they were called in English!

Костяника looked like redcurrants (in latin, Ribes rubrum) to me. Otherwise I don't know what it is! We had red currants in our garden when I was a kid. Very boring to pick them...

There must be endless quantities of these berries growing in Russia!! Perhaps a good business opportunity for poor people. I assume they can pick wherever they like?

In Sweden there is a problem finding people who are willing to pick them for industry (meaning pick berries in the forest as a full time job during the season). In the past, Polish people were willing to do it, but now, they have to bring in people from Asia!!

Originally Posted by Hanna

No.. those berries are more oval and the rushes are like bushes.... The ones I mean grow in the forest and the plants get no higher than a few decimeters.

Like this: If you look closely you can see that there are blueberry (or is it bilberry...) plants everywhere on the ground.

it is "черника" plants on the picture. At least from personal experience I would say so

Originally Posted by Hanna

Костяника looked like redcurrants (in latin, Ribes rubrum) to me. Otherwise I don't know what it is! We had red currants in our garden when I was a kid. Very boring to pick them...

no, it is not currant, completely different berry. And it only grows in the wild - in latin Rúbus saxátilis. In Finnish I guess it is called "Lillukka" or "Stenbär" in Swedish

Originally Posted by Hanna

There must be endless quantities of these berries growing in Russia!! Perhaps a good business opportunity for poor people. I assume they can pick wherever they like?

Pretty much

BTW this is how NA blueberry plant looks
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...mn_foliage.JPG

Originally Posted by Hanna

There must be endless quantities of these berries growing in Russia!!! Perhaps a good business opportunity for poor people. I assume they can pick wherever they like?

Yes, you can pick berries and mushrooms in a forest without any restrictions. I remember when I went fishing in the late 90s to Oka river in the rural area in Vladimir region about 400 km from Moscow I was approached by an old lady who suggested to bick a 10 liter BUCKET (!!!) of blueberries for me for only $2 (!!!). She did that but I was too embaressed to pay such insignificant money and gave her $10 (I haven't much money myself back then). She was very grateful and said "thank you" endless times. I went to the same area last year and the price among locals to pick a bucket of blueberries was about $100 because many rich Muscovites built dachas there (the nature there is very beautiful) and locals who hadn't any work 10 years ago because kolkhoz there they used to work in Soviet times was completly ruined during the times of "freedom and democracy", work now building those houses, many opened their own buisnesses providing various services to those dachniks and earning quite decent money. Also pensions of the old people became significantly higher for the last 10 years and they are able to live on them now instead of begging how it was 10 years ago.

Another berry that we have in Russia is black crowberry - ворон́ика. People usually don't pick it up but here's a photo I took when it was in blossom. Pretty nice, isn't?