Monday, August 26, 2013

Berries In The Forest


              This is cowberry (or lingonberry), is juicy and tasty wild berry. It's a big harvest in the forest this year. My neighbors gardeners invited me to their company to gather cowberry. You might remember that I had gone with them to the river where they were fishing (here). I love to eat cowberry, it has a sweet-sour taste, is perfectly stored with sugar and is very useful, especially in the cold season.
We went out after breakfast and walked into the forest, a few miles from my summer house. At first we had passed a swamp, where Jerusalem artichoke (Heliánthus tuberósus) grew with yellow flowers. Its rhizome can be eaten, but I had never tried it. On a small lake I've seen ducks, they were hiding.


Our route passed by tall trees. I love to consider high and old trees. They've seen a lot in their long life!


Finally we were in the woods. This was a pine forest, quite clean and dry. I could see many pines in a distance.


Often large granite boulders could be found in such wood. They stayed lying there since a melting glacier passed by thousands years ago. The blueberry bushes grew under the pines. But blueberries have already dropped, there was a little left on the bushes. 

 
The cowberry bushes are not high. I found them around the boulder, among the fallen trunks and in moss. There were a lot of berries. It is necessary to bend down or to squat down to gather cowberry. It is so tasty that the hand with berries moved in my mouth. Oh, no!, it should be collected in a bucket!


Having come back to the garden, I put the bucket with berries and took the picture.


Do you like cowberry (or lingonberry)? When did you gather it and where? Do you make cowberry jam?
Thank you!

52 comments:

  1. I have never seen cowberry before. Can it be made in a pie?

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    1. Keith, I often make pie with cowberry. As this berry is very juicy, I add a little sugar.Thank you!

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  2. Ese bosque de pinos parece un paisaje de aquí, así está ahora...pero sin arandanos:)) Hay buena cosecha.Creo que me gustaran,no los he comido nunca.
    Un beso.

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    1. Tambien creo que te gustarian!
      Gracias, Laura!

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  3. Dear Nadezda,you had a lovely walk in the woods!!!
    Wonderful pictures!!!!I have by cowberry jam from the Sweden shop and i like the taste of it!!!
    But in Netherlands ,where my daughter lives now,she bought and made a pie!
    Thank you for sharing these amazing moments!
    Dimi...

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    1. I like the cowberry jam as well, Dimi. Thank you!

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  4. Welcome Nadezda!
    Your relationship with blueberry is very beautiful.
    I love blueberry jam. It is wonderful to heart fried Camembert.
    Here, where I live do not grow blueberries. I regret very much. Always buy it at the market.
    I cordially greet.
    Lucia

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    1. Yes, Lucia, cowberry and jam goes well to meat and cheese.
      Thank you!

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  5. Great pictures you show. Lovely with lingonberries.
    I did not get solved murder mystery. Wish you a nice day :) Hugs Hanne Bente ♥

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  6. What a beautiful landscape, and lovely berries too! In Sweden we eat lingonberry jam with meatballs.

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    1. Yes, I think lingonberry jam goes well to meat. Thank you, Sara!

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  7. Lovely photos Nadezda... You asked about my hibicus plants... these are hardy hibiscus plants and are very hardy in zone 5 and often zone 4 which would be -25 degrees at least, especially if you have reliable snow cover.
    During dormancy, Hibiscus is sensitive to soil moisture. Too much water could cause the roots to rot and too little could dehydrate the plants, causing them to die rather than emerge from dormancy in the spring. I'm not sure what zone you are in, but there are some amazing new cultivars being developed.
    Do be aware that Japanese beetles will dessicate the blossoms... we don't have the beetles here yet but they are within six miles of us and for that reason I limit how many hardy hibiscus I grow... Hope this helps! Larry

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    1. Your advice is helpful, Larry, I'll look at Hibiscus at nursery, especially for my zone 5a.
      Thank you!

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  8. I have never eaten lingonberries. They look so beautiful and rich red in that last photo -- you managed to get enough for a bucketful, so not all went into your mouth! The pine forest looks so inviting and easy to walk under those tall, tall trees. You are lucky to have so much wild forest area around your summer home.

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    1. Laurrie, wild forest, particularly pine forests are less and less, because of new cottages and villages growth. I love this clean and light forest! As to eat lingonberries. Thank you!

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  9. Beautiful nature, the lake and the sunlight through the woods.......I never heard before about cowberries, but I found out, they have the taste of cranberries, but are a bit smaller. I know now why I did not recognize them. They don't grow in our country, these are berries from the far north of Europe. Thank you for your information I have learned about a new berry.

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    1. You are welcome, Janneke! Perhaps you'll buy the cowberry jam one day and will be able to taste it yourself.
      Thank you!

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  10. I love berry picking! We go blueberry and blackberry picking, cow berries do not grow around here. Do you make cowberry preserves?

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    1. Jason, this berry is a perfect one. I can pour cold water in a jug with berries and it's enough to store them whole winter. Or I can put the bowl with berries and a bit of sugar into the stove for half an hour, then to pour them in jars. This jam is stored as long as you wish.
      Thank you!

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  11. I absolutely love lingonberries! It’s one of the things I miss from living in Norway, where we could go out and pick as much as we wanted every autumn. I can get them here in London, in Ikea, but only made into jam or as a cordial, not whole, fresh or frozen berries. I used to make fresh-jam of them, that’s jam that hasn’t been boiled, only squashed with sugar and then freezed, then it doesn’t lose too much of the taste. The jam is good with meat dishes or on a sandwich, but the absolute best use of lingonberries is to make ‘troll cream’. Whip 4 egg whites stiff with 150ml castor sugar and carefully fold in lingonberry jam, freshly made with less sugar than normally, as the egg whites are very sweet already. Yumm!! Best served with waffles but you can eat it with any other cakes too. Or you can add the egg yolks and some whipped cream before the lingonberries are added and freeze it into the world’s best ice cream. Double yummy!!

    Thanks for the photos Nadezda, they brought back many memories :-)

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    1. I liked your recipe and will try to cook the lingonberry jam as I gathered it enough.
      Thank you, Helene!

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  12. Oh, by the way, we call them 'tyttebær' :-)

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    1. Why 'tyttebær' ? Cranberry is more sour and bigger. We call it 'brusnica'

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  13. Lingonberries are not a Canadian favourite - not that Canadians don't know what they are, they just don't use them.
    In fact my only experience with them is to have lingonberry sauce with IKEA meatballs in their cafeteria :)
    Glad you had such a plentiful harvest, Nadezda.

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    1. Yes, I gathered a lot of Lingonberries, will cook jam and store raw berries with sugar for pies.
      Thank you, Astrid!

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  14. Beautiful images! I love the granite boulder in the middle of the forest. Lingonberries are not common around here; in fact, I'm not sure if they grow at all in my area. I always think of Swedish dishes when I think of lingonberries, but I see they roam far from Sweden as well. They look delicious!

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    1. Yes, Rose, lingonberries are delicious, especially in a pie! Glad you liked my photos of the woods, thank you!

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  15. I think I would like cowberries. I like a sweet-sower taste in jam. They do not grow in Australia.
    I loved the beautiful country where you were walking. The trees are wonderful. It reminded me a little of the woods in Denmark. Thank you for sharing Nadezda.
    Betty

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    1. I like walking in a forest as well. This pine forest had a nice smell of resin.
      Thank you!

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  16. We went to Kirkenes in northern Norway (it’s near the Barents Sea near the Russian-Norwegian border and also Finland.) We had a reindeer stew with fresh vegetables and lingonberry sauce on the side – it was delicious. Here in Georgia we are too far south to get these berries. Two days ago I made peach jam but earlier I made some spiced blueberry jam.

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    1. Wow, you've been too far North!I've never eaten reindeer meat, but I like lingonberry with meat stew as well.Sure your jam is delicious, Vagabonde!

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  17. Good morning Nadezda.
    Thank you for your kommetar.
    Many of the poisonous plants (over 100) are on Højriis grows also in the villa gardens.
    link:http://e-pages.dk/ebannoncesalg/85/27
    Wish you a nice day :) Hugs Hanne Bente

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  18. I first tried Lingonberry and its sauce when I viited Swedeb about 5 years ago. As for the jam we can always purchase them at IKEA. Thanks to you, now I know how the splant looks like.

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    1. Glad you liked Lingonberry, Elsie, thank you!

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  19. I have never eaten these, but they look so pretty! The pine forest is just beautiful. I love how the boulders stick out of the ground! Amazing to think of all the trees have seen - but the boulders have seen even more!

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    1. Holley, I've seen that the children love the boulders in the woods, too. They try to climb up and fall down and try again, nice game! I like to touch them, usually the boulders are warm. Thank you!

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  20. beautiful nature, i love to try the delicious berries.

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  21. Good Morning Nadezda,
    Every picture of yours are enchanted, you're such a great artist.
    you write spanish super right, excellent! Thank you very much for being so kind
    Big hugs!

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  22. Hi Nadezda, The pictures of the forest and lake are lovely! The red berries look delicious. I have seen a blogger in western Canada mention cowberries or lingonberries, but I have never seen them here in central Canada. It is amazing how similar Central Canada looks to your part of Russia.

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    1. I think yes, they do. The both countries are situated in Northern part of the Earth and mostly are covered with woods. I'm not surprised that lingonberries could grow in Western Canada. Thank you, Jennifer!

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  23. I've never gathered them but have eaten delicious jam made from them when I lived in the north. Your forest is beautiful!

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  24. Wow, what a gorgeous place! I am ashamed to say the only lingonberry I have consumed is a drink from Ikea!I have never seen this in the wild I don't think?

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    1. Glad you've seen lingonberry in the forest now. I've never eaten jam from Ikea, although been there several times! Thank you, Anna!

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  25. I've never tried cowberries. They look delicious, almost like cranberries. How are you going to prepare them?

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    1. Tammy, this berry is easy to prepare. I add sugar to the bowl with berries and put into the stove for half an hour. It's all. Then pour berries in jars. When I cook a pie, take berries as much as I need on the dough. It's delicious pie!
      Thank you!

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  26. I like lingonberries as well. I haven't gathered them this year, but I've eaten them in the forest. I was in the forest today as well. We were picking mushrooms. Happy weekend, Nadezda!

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    1. I'm sure you gathered delicious mushrooms!
      Thank you, Satu!

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