Bilberry

The bilberry, also called the blueberry, huckleberry and whortleberry, is a plant more associated with America than Britain – think Huckleberry Finn! – but is actually a common wild plant throughout much of Britain.

Cultivation

Plants can be purchased from garden centres or berries may be harvested from the wild, where plants are found on heaths, moors and open woodlands, especially on acid soils.

Parts Used

Dried fruits and leaves for medicinal purposes, ripe fruits for culinary purposes. The leaves are collected between June and August and dried in the shade, the fruits are collected when they ripen, and either eaten immediately or dried at less than 55 degrees C.

Uses

The berries can be taken whole to combat diarrhoea (chew and swallow a handful of dried berries) or the same amount of dried berries can be allowed to soak in water which is then boiled, cool the fruits and eat them. A decoction – 1 tablespoon of dried fruits in two glasses of water, boiled for five minutes and decanted into a dark glass bottle – is used as a mouthwash for inflammations of the mouth, gums and throat. For diabetes a decoction of the leaves is used over a prolonged period.

In culinary terms, the bilberry is used, sometimes in combination with other fruits, to make a wine! Blueberries when fresh are a rich source of fibre, calcium and vitamins A and C, and American research has shown the fruits may have more antioxidants than most other fruit and vegetables. Studies have also suggested that blueberries can help to strengthen eyesight and reduce cholesterol. Adding such foods to your diet every day can be quite easy - dried blueberries are excellent if you’re making muesli, as an addition to the normal raisins etc and frozen blueberries make a nutritious, lavender coloured smoothie.

Bilberry photograph by Arquera from flickr under a creative commons attribution licence.