All of those bilberries are the same species. The red leaves are just a discoloration (due to multiple reasons) and the black ones have a genetic mutation that causes them to lose their waxy coating (if you rub a "blue" bilberry it will turn black). Great vids Don't know if this was mentioned yet or not
yesss i was gonna point that out. ive had multiple different and random plants in the garden get the red coloring. my guess was frost/cold but dont really know
@@cyberash3000 I think it's regional how we call them in Germany. In my region they're called blueberry (Blaubeere) or sometimes Heidelbeere (don't know what the english translation would be).
In Scandinavia (and the Nord) those who has a white inside is a third species called "Odon" in Sweden, they are closly related to both American blueberry and Bilberries, they are edible (however there is a missconseption in sweden that they are poisonous, wich i think may be because they for some reason has become confused with snakeberries/Herb of Paris(?) wich is a complete different type of plant but also with round blue berries of the same shape, however snakeberries are poisonous, snakeberries grow on a soft lillylike stem with a distinct crimson shape crown of green leaves, they usualy grow in the shadow in the scrubs around near lakeshores and not in the deepforest or bogs as the blueberry family "Odoon" wich grow on a small bluerry like plant are edible) but they does not hawe much taste and may hawe a slight bitter savory taste instead of the smooth sweet taste of the bilberrys (Nordic blueberries).
same here! we call them blueberries but no one really likes them, we call bilberries something like "main blueberry" (horriffic translation sorry). american blueberries taste like water and dirt tbh.
We call them "blåbär" (in Swedish) which translates to "blueberry". We call the large berry that you call blueberry "amerikanska blåbär", which means "american blueberry". Very confusing 🙂 I prefer the small one (bilberry), although the large one (blueberry) is good too. The large ones are usually a bit bland and boring in Sweden (because they are imported). The combination of bilberry and raspberry as a jam is called "drottningsylt" in Swedish (Queens jam), and is the best jam you could ever have hands down! 👍
Dont worry about finding billberries, they grow in something like 15-20% of Swedens forest area. Probably similar in Finland. You find them in almost all forest given a 10 min walk.
Yep they grow everywhere here too, as well as lingon berries. Also, the taste is different depending on the time of the year you pick them. Bilberries can be pretty sweet also if you pick them late summer/early fall.
@@LeXar71 we can thank the midnight sun for that. Enabling photosynthesis 24/7 in the summer is the key behind the insane sugar production necessary for such berry amounts. My friend from Scotland calls my region (Norrland) the land of the berries lol.
Like everyone already has explained before me. In Norway we say "blåbær" or blueberry in english. But as i understand in North Amerika they call "blåbær" bilberry. In Norway we either call the Amercan version "American blueberry" or "Royalblue". In my opinion the American blueberry reminds me a bit of grapes.
I've never tried them, but apparently _wild_ American blueberry tastes a bit different than the domesticated version. I _have_ seen them, and at the very least they're smaller.
We scandies just call them blueberries. I believe the blue color comes from the berries being coated in a thin layer of wax that disperses the light bouncing off the dark color underneath and makes the berry look blue. The black, shiny berries just don't have that layer for some reason.
Yeah, and there's even a common mutation in bilberries that prevents the wax from forming, and it makes them look darker. They are a bit less bitter without the wax imo.
I love bilberries, we call them Myrtilles in France, and they often get confused for Blueberries, despite the size difference. A Bilberry is heavenly. My grandma used to toss a good amount inside a crunchy tart crust and we were in for a treat. Eating that with some vanilla icecream or whipped cream ... It gets messy ! But it's well worth the effort.
I was in restaurant academy (Helsinki Finland) at 1980-1982. I was 17-19y. Back then they all were translated blueberry. I have read "bilberry" sometimes on this century. In finnish (european) blueberry is "Mustikka", and (american) blueberry was "Pensasmustikka", that in direct translation is "Bush-blueberry". Back then american variation was stil extremely rare here in Finland. And usually seen in movies and TV. First time that i have eaten american blueberry, i was thinking "this do not taste anything, this is fake berry".
@@KiMoKo9787 what variety of watermelon? There's a huge difference in them. I grew up when congo and rattlesnake were the ones mostly planted. They were big but very good ones. The new small seedless and sangria that the most common now I don't like at all. I grow a few of the old kind for the family. And some of the old yellow ones are pretty good too.
@@tbjtbj4786 we mostly have big ones, 15ish lbs with dark green stripes, pale red insides that tastes like water. They used to be more red and juicy so maybe they're picking too early? I'm unsure of the exact type here in south Florida but ours are usually imported from Georgia
@@KiMoKo9787 seed or seed less? More like jubilee or sangria. There in tge 15 lbs range. Light red and water tasting sounds like they were not ripe. Oh if you think 15 lbs are big. Try a congo if you find one up to about 75 lbs around 3 feet long. They are seedy but really sweet.
It's a bit amusing as a (Northern) European to see bilberries referred to as the "special" blueberries and American blueberries as "standard". I like the texture of blueberries, and the size make them better suited to eat fresh as a snack or on a cheeseboard or something. They also don't go mushy as easily. That said, I prefer the taste of bilberry, so I guess my ideal "blueberry" to eat right off the plant would be an American blueberry with the flavour and colour of the bilberry. Hot billberry "soup" is a great dish to have outdoors in the winter. The heat makes them slightly less tart and more aromatic.
I have also made both. They are great, though in my opinion a bilberry pie is a bit better. But it's a matter of taste and what you are used to, as always.
The black bilberries are vaccinium myrtillus var. epruinosum, according to old Norwegian folklore these were poisonous because the Common Viper, the only venomous snake up here, had licked them. The leaf color is the same for both varieties, red leaves before fall is usually a sign of poor nutrition or dehydration. We have one more blueberry/bilberry species (vaccinium uliginosum) growing here in Norway, they're considered bland, same goes for crowberries.
@@WeirdExplorerThe black coloring is a mutation that causes the berries to lose their waxy coating, which normally breaks the light differently to produce the lighter blue color. The wax protects them against dehydration, and since the mutation produces a less hardy variety it does not prevail and propogate to produce a more stable subspecies, but are outcompeted by the vaxy version.
@@WeirdExplorer the first two types of billberrys we call blåbær (blueberrys) in Norway, but the last one vaccinium uliginosum goes by blokkebær (probably because they look and taste quite different). I wouldnt say that crowberrys are bland, they are actually quite tart, but there are a lot of seeds in each berry, so when i eat them, i eat a small handfull of them, then spit the seeds out. My grandparents used to make a really good syrup from crowberrys, which we could mix out with water and drink all throughout the winter.
There where also Vaccinium uliginosum leaves hear and there on the video. Didn't see any berries on them. They are not as good as V. myrtillioides so not eaten even if you can. Krowberries (Empetrum nigrum/hermaphroditum) is also not eaten even if you can.
@@lubricustheslippery5028 the crowberrys are eaten, they taste really good, but the texture is a bit unsettling because of the seeds. When I eat them I squeeze the juice out of them, then spit the seeds out. They also make a really good syrup (saft).
Just discovered this channel today, I wish I could watch all 503 at once but alas. Thank you for making such great, interesting, and educational content.
I found the channel relatively recently and binge watched them all. It took several months. There’s about 500 fruit videos but over 670 in all. This channel is awesome!
That's so funny that you mentioned that blueberries have a basil flavour to them, I thought the same thing, so in culinary school I made a blueberry basil ice cream! It was pretty awesome.
@@Thomahawk1234 It was good, but I was still somewhat new to cooking, and I was too sparing with the basil, it wasn't as pronounced a flavour as it should have been. It was still tasty though, would recommend 🙂
If you want something really rare, you could look for a hybrid between lingonberry and bilberry. Super rare but they do exist naturally in the wild. There is also a version of bilberry without the blue colour (Vaccinium f. leucocarpum) also super rare.
I'm from Romania, and I always wondered why supermarket blueberries are so different to the blueberries I forage late summer. Myself I prefer the forest ones just because they're more complex in flavour. But I do like the supermarket ones too
The first few times I ate blueberries they were always freshly picked from a forest or hill here in germany. When I first bought ones from the store and they turned out to be way more watery and less flavorful I was a bit disappointed. I definitly prefer our native variety. Also, your tounge turning blue from eating them is an integral part of the experience!
Supermarket varieties tend to be native to North America and are in a different subgenus (fruit is in corymbs rather than singly borne, making them generally more productive). Western USA "huckleberries" are in the same subgenus as European bilberries, and Vaccinium uglinossum occurs in both places. (In the Eastern USA, "huckleberry" is a different genus, Gaylusacia baccata , which tastes a bit like our blueberries, but gets a gritty texture from its 10 much larger seeds.). Both highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) and rabbiteye (V. ashei) blueberries have been heavily selected for larger fruit [which markets well here in the USA, where most people seem to be visual shoppers; and where domestication occurred and the bulk of blueberry breeding still occurs] over 20th century, though a few old highbush varieties (Rubel & Rancoccas) are still sold by nurseries and have smaller fruit that I consider generally better (more antioxidants--in North American blueberries, all the color is in the skin; and less likely to create soggy spots in your blueberry muffins). Lowbush blueberries are still usually harvested from the "wild" (the germplasm is wild, but the native plots are maintained/promoted by controlled burning to keep the blueberries dominant and trees suppressed), so they tend to be smaller and a bit more flavorful.
One more thing to add - like most things American blueberries grown in your yard or picked from the wild are going to taste better than a grocery store blueberry by a long shot. I've never had a bilberry so I can't compare, but I'm sure they're equally good. I can't account for the difference between commercial blueberries and home grown/gathered blueberries, but it's definitely noticeable.
@@rachelclark6393 Home grown American blueberries are definitely tastier than storebought ones, but in my opinion only by a little. I still prefer European blueberries waaaay more. But this is of course a personal preference. I like the tartness of the European blueberries. American bluberries taste bland and too sweet in my opnion.
*so I'm going to try the regular one first (tries the massive berries)* Scandinavian: You call those regular!? *these are bill berries (points to blueberries)* Scandinavian: *Oi mate you trying to start a fight?!* Source: I'm a swede and this was my reaction.
As a European I'm very triggered by your use of the word "bilberry" to describe the original blueberry. Your American ones are called Northern highbush blueberries. European ones are called blueberries.
Except we have wild blueberries that are very close to indistinguishable from your low-bush wild berries. I grew up around them. They are MUCH better than the big cultivated high-bush.
Also in America (virginia) we have wild blueberries called 'huckleberries' of which there are 2 main categories: short, 6 inch high bushes, and tall, 7 foot tall bushes...
Huckleberries are so much better than high bush blueberries. More tart, complex, with a nice amount of sweetness too. They grow everywhere in the Pacific Northwest. We also have Bog blueberry/bog Bilberry, which is very tart and not really that sweet.
@@NatureShy Are huckleberries similar in taste to high bush and euro wild blueberries? is it the same taste and size berries with the low and tall huckleberrybushes?
@@m.b.6402 Have you tried european bluberries and compared if they are similar in taste? Are all wild amerivan blueberries the same or are there varieties. Among culltivatet there are differences in size, height, and taste. Though I haven't tried any besides the common cultivars which are sweet and nice but would be great with some more taste to them.
Im so glad you introduced me to the rake, i can't tell you how tedious its is collection individualy sparsely placed berries, i spent ages yesterday picking individual fruits.
My German parents refused to eat cultivated blueberries for a long time when they came into stores here, because they considered them 'fake' blueberries. Now American blueberries became the standard across Europe though.
@@gdn2705 I'm not sure if you are joking or not, with the strange spelling, but I am going to assume you are not. What is called Bilberry in England is called Blaeberry in Scots, which is cognate with the scandinavian "Blåbær/blåbär", literally translating as blueberry. Most continental languages in Europe have a common name variant for Vaccinium myrtillus that translates into "blue berry" in English. In addition the European blueberry and the American blueberry are the same genus so they can be crossbreed with each other, so not that different when it comes down to the biology. Edit: mixed up of words
@@duprasi8144 I’m German and I use them interchangeably as well. Though now that I remember, my grandparents always refer to Heidelbeeren when they pick them in the forest, so I suppose those were Bilberries.
@@kattkatt744ok no problem it's just where I live in county Durham close to the Moore's there's a lot of simaler looking shrebs with fruit we call billberries.
Swede here, I got kind of offended to hear that what for all my life was blueberries apparently are called "billberries" over there, well "Billberries" stay supreme, the american blueberries are just for decoration... And what you call "northen billberry" is not considered worth the effort to pick
Hi there fellow swede. let me make you a bit happier about that. :) The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu, a word of Germanic origin. Note that it says germanic origin. And you know what we used to call black things in old swedish/danish probably norwegian too... Blue! Harald Bluetooth had black teeth for example, not blue. So i guess they used to be seen as blackberries, which is also what theyre known as in russia. Since the word blue is of germanic origin i claim the blueberry of the european verison to be the original and the one to give blueberries their name. Whatever the native americans called those berries, that are white inside, not blue, would be what theyre called. A european blueberry is a blueberry, both inside and out and they are what that word originates from.
@@n0namesowhatblerp362 Yes, the ones here just have to be the "original" haha. I will return your information with the origin story "fuck" from ancient nordic "focka" (to pull someting back and forwards) its funny that its now back in english form used on a daily in Sweden
In French, Bilberries are called myrtilles (not the same as Myrtle in English) and American blueberries are just called Bleuets. In Québec, both are known as Bleuets because we don't know the bilberry and we produce a lot of blueberries.
The small ones when picked to be sold are picked unripe, but if you plan to eat them yourself you pick them later on and they are logically, sweeter and less tart
First time I've ever heard European blueberries called bilberries. I've seen them also called low-bush blueberries, in contrast to the high-bush berries that are the American type which can grow about 2m tall. For fresh eating the high-bush blueberries are fine, but for baking they're a waste of time.
If you enjoy different kinds of berries you should definitely try Kamchatka honeysuckle - also a blueberry-like taste but completely different - and well worth a trip to Eastern Europe!
As many have noted the bilberries are just blueberries or wild blueberries here, and the blueberries are American blueberries. But there is a further third variety, that isn't sold or grown commercially but is pretty common in non-forested areas like bogs and hearths, as it requires slightly acidic soil. Here in Denmark it's called Mosebøllebær (lit. translation 'bog thimble berry'). Supposedly it also grows in North America, so it shouldn't be entirely unknown to a fruit aficionado, but I don't know the name in English. It's about the same size as the bilberry, but often more elongated (hence the thimble part of the name), the dimple is less pronounced and it is white on the inside with a colourless juice. And it is unfortunately not as strong in taste as the bilberry, but it's still a refreshing little berry. Oh and crowberries (Danish: Revling) often grow alongside it.
@@mandab.3180 Bah that's just because he hasn't tried enough... Not a fan of typical grocery store mushrooms either (buttons, portobello, shiitake), but wild mushrooms like chicken of the woods, morelles, oyster mushrooms, inkcaps, etc, are another deal entirely! And there are so many!
I remember bilberries from when I lived in russia. We called them chernika which ironically translates as blackberry. Whereas blackberries are called ezhevika or hedgehog berry. There is also golubika which is the blue berry.
Funny thing about the scandinavian languages, the word blue used to mean black. At least in swedish and danish, when something was described as being very dark it was called blue. Nowadays we would all say black of course. Harald Bluetooth is great exampel of this, he probably had black teeth and was thus called bluetooth.
It's funny, because here in Canada, our wild blueberries are nothing like the store blueberries! The store big blueberries are called Highbush blueberries and the wild ones are the Lowbush blueberries, those grow everywhere on mossy and rocky grounds. I've never had a bilberry to compare, but they are even smaller and probably much sweeter. They are also way darker than the usual blueberry on the inside
you should do a video like this but on alpine strawberries! theyre just like bilberries in that theyre smaller than strawberries, sweeter, they need a lot of sun so they take over huge clearings, and the colder they freeze in the winter, the sweeter the fruit is the next summer
I was so confused when I was a kid that my American family members called the one that was all white inside blueberry, because they didn't feel blue enough, the billberry (which I grew up thinking was blueberry) was so much bluer, and made the fingers bluer.
North American wild blueberries are VERY different to those farmed blueberries. They are smaller, darker, are very flavorful. They are amazingly packed with antioxydents. They grow very well in Quebec and New England and are some of the first plants to grow after a fire. The more up north you are, the more more intense the taste.
Where I lived there were some blueberries growing alongside bilberries. Everyone thought them to be inferior that they were not even picked by most. I've heard some of them call them as rubbish berries because they were so tasteless in comparison. To be sure, most tasted so mild and some had no flavour at all. The blueberries are easy to spot, because the plants are much taller. I agree that the best ones are the black and shiny ones, but the dusty blue ones are the most common type. In the height of the season the whole undergrowth is a blue with barriers; it is difficult to stop even when your buckets are full and your back is begging you to stand straight.
@@iforgotmyusername11 Blueberries. I'm used to them now I cannot get bilberries but when I first bought blueberries I was disappointed with the lack of flavour. I didn't buy them again for several years because I didn't think they were worth the money.
im from denmark and i dont like normal big blueberrys that you get in the supermarket they just taste bland but when i find the small ones i the wild they kinda taste like raspberry and apple wich is amazing and i can feel the vitamins and in sweden they are even better sorry for the bad grammer
The redleaf billberry is the same as the green leafed ones, they just lack the eproinosum . Used to be know as Shoemakers billberries, why I have no clue. You had lingon but also some bearberrys too.
You can buy SYLT BLÅBÄR (Bilberry jam) and DRYCK BLÅBÄR (Bilberry syrup) at your local IKEA. Although they label them as Blueberry products. The "Queens jam" is also available as SYLT HALLON & BLÅBÄR
I fun to watch someone be fascinated by a standard blueberry forest (or apparently called billberry sometimes). Like, this is how most of the Nordic countries look like all over, just forests filled with berries, everywhere. From the very south to the very north.
That’s how it looks like in the Pacific Northwest too, in North America. Carpets of huckleberries and bog blueberries. Huckleberries are tart and sweet, and bog blueberries are smaller, have a dusty blue coating, and very tart but not so sweet.
Hi Jared. That reminds me of my childhood when we went just into the woods behind my parents' house to eat as much as we could of bilberries and the very sour lingonberries, that must have an 11 on your scale, Hahaha. Much more sour than cranberries. After the feeding frenzi we mostly came home with purple blueish spots on hands and clothes, and a blackish purple tongue. I grew up south of Nürnberg/Mittelfranken in northern bavaria, and they grew everywhere. I agree they are better than the cultivated american blueberries, but not available on the market for a reasonable price. I haven't seen them for sale for maybe 30 years.
Cool video! Honestly from the looks of it, the patch of billberries (and other berries) that you found doesn't look that bountiful to me as a Swede. Normally if it's a good berry year (which it was this year), you can find tens of berries on every plant (or is the correct word "bush" maybe?). Fun fact: A Swedish brown bear can eat up to 20k calories per day from mostly just billberries and maybe crowberries during high season!
Huckleberries are the best! Having never tried a bilberry, I’d imagine that they taste fairy similar to huckleberries. Huckleberries are just like you described, more tart, complex, but perhaps the difference being more sweeter than a bilberry?
Billberries! I've been waiting for this. As a child growing up in the UK we only ever had billberries that we picked in the hills. Then when I was a teenager the supermarkets started selling blueberries, but they were white inside! They also didn't turn the custard purple when you mixed a crumble of them with it 😆 Edit: Me and my dad used to have competitions for who could find the biggest ones... we called them prize guys
When I was teaching at a summer camp in Poland, the forest around the camp was FILLED with wild blueberry plants. I spent a couple hours picking a basketful of them to share with people. It was hella fun.
This is legit the first time I have heard the word bilberry and had to google it :D we just translate these bilberries or mustikka in Finnish as blueberries. I have tried those big blueberries/bush blueberries (pensas mustikka) that they sell in supermarket once and they tasted like mild grapes and pear to me so I personally prefer the bilberries/mustikka more. Also when someone talks about blueberries I connect the word to the taste of mustikka or in this case bilberry, i think.
Bilberries & Huckleberries seem to be rather similar. Huckleberries & Blueberries are slightly different in the genus. The most interesting article I've read about them come from Montana. Although, Montana says they're hard pressed to be found in the East, however, I know that huckleberries are very prolific on top of Roan Mountain in Tennessee.
I remember buying frozen "blueberries" once, and was like wtf is this. Turned out to be american blueberries. Imo they taste pretty much nothing, sweet but almost no flavour.
i never knew what is an english name for bilberries, in poland we call them jagody and the thing you show that is used to pick them up is kinda banned bc it harms the plant when you brush it through the leaves
So I learned that blueberries that are the only native blueberry species in my country are actually called bilberry in english. The "actual blueberry" is called canadian blueberry here and you can buy it as a plant and grow it yourself, but you'll never find it in nature. 2:00 it is illegal to use this tool in Czech republic. We call it a comb.
The big blueberries are often referred to as american blueberries while the small ones you forage are just blueberries or forest blueberries. They love newly cut forest, but as the trees grow there'll be less berries on the plants. Sun is crucial. It's strange seeing someone so fascinated with something so common.
In Poland the bilberries are the normal ones, growing in the wild, as you saw them in Finlad :) They're intense, sweet, the skin is a bit tart, and the juice stains everything. Perfect for cakes, milkshakes, jams or even pierogi (dumplings) filling. In Polish the bilberries are called "jagody" (don't know the ethymology and it doesn't really translate to anything, but we also name a colour "jagodowy" - light purple) and the American ones are "borówki" or "American borówki", and they're different enough I wouldn't normally even consider them same fruit.
I grew up eating wild blueberries, here in Pennsylvania. The wild ones look more like the bilberries. The I never really liked the cultivated blueberries; sure, they're a lot bigger, but they have way less flavor. We'd pick two different types of blueberries: lowbush blueberries, which look like those wild bilberry plants, and highbush blueberries. The highbush are easier to pick; you don't have to stoop over since the bushes are usually as tall or taller than you, and, being bigger, one bush would have a lot more berries. Picking the highbush berries is very peaceful and almost zen-like, if you can avoid being eaten alive by bugs.
I'm insulted that you would call those genetic monstrosities American, in Minnesota we got some dank ass berries native I will never store by blueberries again. That's just from personal experience I know what a good berries tastes like.
Try some fresh organic blueberries or wild blueberries in America and you will be surprised. They taste much different. Super sweet, juicy, and a bit tart. Delicious, I prefer these blueberries over bilberries.
I have found most berries have the recommendation of 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. From what I have read this is due to the sunlight helping ripen the fruit. Red also happens on blueberries. It is supposed to happen when it gets more cool.
I think I’ve seen the evergreen-looking ones locally, here in Eugene, OR. Also, at a farm stand in Damascus, OR, you can get delicious blueberries the size of a mandarin orange... by the flat. It’s literally on the edge of the fields where the fruit is grown.
Alaskan wild and Maine wild are definitely more similar to billberries. I believe AK blueberries are indeed a type of billberries, and I would definitely take them over blueberries any day! Grew up with AK wild blueberries and that tart sweetness.
While you are in EU you should absolutely take a look at the, deeply underestimated, black current. I might be bias but the best are in Denmark, here we have a late summer tradition, we take a bowl of black currents, like a cereal sized, ad milk or cream and top with sugar or honey. Please help spread the word of the black current. Thanks J
Wtf! I would ho back to Poland for the summers and go- or at least thought I did- Blueberry picking and foraging in the forest. I always thought they were blueberries, no one has ever told me different! Although, similarly to what our Finnish cousins have said, the "regular" blueberries were called American berry (not Blueberry, there's no word like that in the polish language) in the shops.
I’ve actually had bilberries, surprisingly enough. Thanks for that goes to a pot luck I attended, to which someone brought a bunch, and about which said person informed me.
On Cape Henlopen I ve noted at least 3 kinds of Blueberries. A bush that was exactly like supermarket Blueberries and lots of what looked like the Bilberries that were either blue or black. Those were tiny, like in the video. There is also a medium size berry that's lighter than the Bilberries, but darker than the dusty blue commercial store kind. All were yummy , w the commercial variety the least wonderful, but better than it's store or produce stand equals. The small blue/black ones grow in the wetter sections right next to Cranberries. Blackberry's grow as well, but are awful, not sweet at all and deal breaker bitter.
Hi, I've enjoyed this video, especially the comparison with commercial blueberries as well as your mystery berry. I'd thought I'd share my experiences that might shed some light on the mystery. I do my berry picking above 4000' in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest of the US. Up there you find a couple varieties of wild blueberries that are closer to you bilberries than the commercial blueberries. Then, in with them are three or four varieties of what we call huckleberries. The blueberries are blue with that white coating, (actually wild yeast accumulated from the air not wax), like your bilberries. Their leaves are green and rounded just like your bilberry and soft and supple to the touch. Frankly, I wish somebody would get those blueberry bushes out of my way some I could get to the huckleberries easier! The huckleberries do not have the white coating. The varieties all have some amount of red to them. One variety just enough to make them a darker blue then the blueberries, some enough to made the berries look black like your mystery berry. All them have some red in their leaves and are more pointed with a rougher edge like your mystery berry. One variety has so much red to it that the stems are also red and the berries have an almost royal purple tint to them. The leaves are all "crisper" and almost sticky to the touch. The varieties range from about 18" tall up to 6-7 feet. The tallest is my favorite. It produce berries almost the size of those commercial blueberries and jet black and juicy and sweet. From what I'm seeing your mystery berry is what we call a huckleberry. By the way, if you ever what the explore out here I'll take you up to these fields as well as take out picking blackcaps. These aren't those "blackcaps" you can buy in the store, those are really just black raspberries. These are the native Northwest blackberries. They are the only thing I like better than my huckleberries.
hey man! I love your channel and every single video I've seen so far :) I was checking out your Patreon and I was definitely thinking of doing the $100 tier thing because going to NYC (live in Westchester btw) and trying some new crazy fruits sounds awesome to me and I would love to support the channel to be able to see more awesome videos. However, I know Covid might be a bit of a roadblock for that so I was wondering if you have any idea when a trip like that would be doable for you, I also have a buddy who would love to come along and I was wondering if I did end up doing this trip sometime would it be possible to bring my friend for free or would it be necessary for him to support the $100 tier Patreon as well. (I think it would be an easy sell haha)
I wonder if weird explorer ever tried what we Swedes call Smultron, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca. Loved eating them as a kid in a bowl of milk like cereal. Tastes different from regular strawberries.
If you can wear a t shirt and pick bilberries in Finland, they're not ripe. The way you describe them, and the size of them, looks like you got unripe ones. They're decent but leaving them for 3- weeks on the plant and they will grow much larger and sweeter.
huh...SOUR? I've never had any bilberries that are SOUR...nor blueberries... also over here (estonia), we call the big ones "cultured blackberries" and forest ones just "blackberries", while you call them blueberries and bilberries respectively... which is interesting... blackberries as translated directly, when one would put it in english, they'd probably use blueberry instead... it's interesting how it's blackberry and not blueberry too, since the coating is blue... maybe back in the day there was less blue waxy coated variants? or people just found several blue berries and decided that this one is black underneath, but that one isn't so that's the name? idk
We get billberrys on the Moors in County Durham in England they taste nothing wrong with them they go great in blackberry and apple crumble best served with custard.
I love the videos you do where you are out in the wild or otherwise and give some history on the fruit too, The one where you went to Jamacia and cooked with a local particularly stands out in memory. I'm curious when the rest of the Milk alternative showdowns will be posted too? Thanks for the great vids man
Poland here - I used to always pick by hand! And I did these hardcore picking days where I spent whole days (4.30am, just pale dawn, to 7pm, leaving forest when it's almost dark) I used to be able to collect more or less 20-25litres, all by hand. I am always pissed off when seeing people using the raking devices - they tear leaves off from bushes, they break stems, after a short while, the whole place is ruined and no longer having berries. These devices are restricted and u may get fined for using them. I never used and I simply hate them. Make smoothies, and ooh, pasta, but pasta has to be homemade, don't waste time on store bought pasta. Blueberries ( we call them American blueberries) they just can't beat the wild ones. I planted 8 bushes on my garden, they r producing nicely, but they just can't do , compared to wild ones. Especially when it comes to smoothies , make smoothie with American blueberries and forest billberies, and just compare. Wild are just absolutely better in smoothies. Also as they grow in forest all naturally, no fertilisers and no other agricultural "enhancements". They r super healthy. They now keep coming up with the new "superfruits" but none deserve this title more than wild billbery!
In the Czech Republic, the American ones are called Canadian blueberries. They are good, but they taste completely different from ours. Ours are much better, have a fuller taste and a nicer color. It turns everything purple ..
I'm from Canada, and I've never liked those big store-bought blueberries. The wild species that grow here are much more similar in appearance and flavour to the bilberries and I was fortunate enough to grow up primarily in the fringes of the boreal forest in Western Canada so I was always surrounded in wild blueberries. On the very rare occasions my mother would buy blueberries from the grocery store, all of us kids would complain about having to eat them because they were so bland and watery. These days, I don't completely hate the simple sweetness of the store-bought berries, but wild blueberries are still so much better.
The ones with green stalks you're showing last are the real European blueberries. The ones with the dark stalk might be bog bilberries. And American "blueberries" are not blueberries :)
In Germany bog bilberries are called Rauschbeere (inebriation-berry), because you can get intoxicated of them. There is supposed to be a fungus parasite that can be inside of the berries so that you accidentally get high while eating them.
Im from Sweden and i remember the first time i ate American blueberrys, i tought they were normal blueberrys but just huge and was reallt exited. Sadly they just taste sweet, probably one of my least favorite berrys.
Sometimes you can get them when they are a mixture of sour and sweet. That is basically my benchmark for all fruit, I like some sourness or tang to balance the sweet.
The odd berry you foud at the end may be a rare billberry hybrid. Possibly blingon (billberry × lingonberry). If so you are very lucky, they are supposedly very tasty. I'm not an expert though so I may very well be wrong. EDIT: I'm probably wrong. The comment by @Jon-Petter Magessønn seems much more likely.
In Alaska a lot of us call those so called American blueberries “fake blueberries” they are not like the normal native blueberries. Ours are little and tart, the farmed blueberries are large and tasteless.
which one sounds better to you: bilberry or blueberry?
Blueberry
Definitely Blueberry
Bilberry
The 'murican one of course
Definitely blueberry
All of those bilberries are the same species. The red leaves are just a discoloration (due to multiple reasons) and the black ones have a genetic mutation that causes them to lose their waxy coating (if you rub a "blue" bilberry it will turn black). Great vids
Don't know if this was mentioned yet or not
Ohh I have to try that! Where I am from, bilberries are called "blackberries" (Schwarzbeeren in German) - and I always wondered why.
Wow, that's actually really cool fact. I love when there is a simple mutation (well, maybe not that simple) which you can actually see.
yesss i was gonna point that out. ive had multiple different and random plants in the garden get the red coloring. my guess was frost/cold but dont really know
@@LZmiljoona in english blackberries are a different fruit
@@cyberash3000 I think it's regional how we call them in Germany. In my region they're called blueberry (Blaubeere) or sometimes Heidelbeere (don't know what the english translation would be).
We don't even consider the "blueberries" that are white inside for real blueberries where I live.
Thank you!
In Scandinavia (and the Nord) those who has a white inside is a third species called "Odon" in Sweden, they are closly related to both American blueberry and Bilberries, they are edible (however there is a missconseption in sweden that they are poisonous, wich i think may be because they for some reason has become confused with snakeberries/Herb of Paris(?) wich is a complete different type of plant but also with round blue berries of the same shape, however snakeberries are poisonous, snakeberries grow on a soft lillylike stem with a distinct crimson shape crown of green leaves, they usualy grow in the shadow in the scrubs around near lakeshores and not in the deepforest or bogs as the blueberry family "Odoon" wich grow on a small bluerry like plant are edible) but they does not hawe much taste and may hawe a slight bitter savory taste instead of the smooth sweet taste of the bilberrys (Nordic blueberries).
same here! we call them blueberries but no one really likes them, we call bilberries something like "main blueberry" (horriffic translation sorry). american blueberries taste like water and dirt tbh.
@@sesseljabs964 trueeee
We just call them American blueberries.
It's funny, cause most people in Norway and probably Sweden and Finland too call the american blueberries fake blueberries.
No we don't call them fake blueberries, we call them shitty blueberries.
We call them garden blueberries but dont like them 😸
Why would they refer to them as “American” at all??
Because the species is from North America
i call them ripoff grapes because of how flavorless they are they taste more similar to really cheap grapes than actual blueberries.
We call them "blåbär" (in Swedish) which translates to "blueberry". We call the large berry that you call blueberry "amerikanska blåbär", which means "american blueberry". Very confusing 🙂
I prefer the small one (bilberry), although the large one (blueberry) is good too. The large ones are usually a bit bland and boring in Sweden (because they are imported).
The combination of bilberry and raspberry as a jam is called "drottningsylt" in Swedish (Queens jam), and is the best jam you could ever have hands down! 👍
Oh man.. that sounds like a killer combination
We call them " brovnica" here in Slovenia and big one is called " ameriska brovnica" greetings from sLOVEnia east europe
@@matejmatej3554 Greetings to you in Slovenia from a Jamaican via Queens, New York!
So they don't only grow in the UK great in apple crumble
There's also what's called King's jam, which is basically Queen's jam with strawberries!
Dont worry about finding billberries, they grow in something like 15-20% of Swedens forest area. Probably similar in Finland. You find them in almost all forest given a 10 min walk.
Actually they cover roughly 17% of the total area of Sweden! Which is a bit crazy to think about...
Yep they grow everywhere here too, as well as lingon berries. Also, the taste is different depending on the time of the year you pick them. Bilberries can be pretty sweet also if you pick them late summer/early fall.
@@LeXar71 we can thank the midnight sun for that. Enabling photosynthesis 24/7 in the summer is the key behind the insane sugar production necessary for such berry amounts.
My friend from Scotland calls my region (Norrland) the land of the berries lol.
Like everyone already has explained before me. In Norway we say "blåbær" or blueberry in english. But as i understand in North Amerika they call "blåbær" bilberry. In Norway we either call the Amercan version "American blueberry" or "Royalblue".
In my opinion the American blueberry reminds me a bit of grapes.
I've never tried them, but apparently _wild_ American blueberry tastes a bit different than the domesticated version. I _have_ seen them, and at the very least they're smaller.
same in Sweden, but we say "Blåbär"
@@absalomdraconis The wild ones are MUCH MUCH better. The store-bought farm berries are just bland in comparison.
@@wilmeroberg9794 that is literally the same word.
We scandies just call them blueberries. I believe the blue color comes from the berries being coated in a thin layer of wax that disperses the light bouncing off the dark color underneath and makes the berry look blue. The black, shiny berries just don't have that layer for some reason.
Yeah, and there's even a common mutation in bilberries that prevents the wax from forming, and it makes them look darker. They are a bit less bitter without the wax imo.
Great information!
I love bilberries, we call them Myrtilles in France, and they often get confused for Blueberries, despite the size difference.
A Bilberry is heavenly. My grandma used to toss a good amount inside a crunchy tart crust and we were in for a treat. Eating that with some vanilla icecream or whipped cream ...
It gets messy ! But it's well worth the effort.
Its called Blåbær here in Norway, the generic and bland berries from the US as are also named blueberries, despite being white inside
TheBackan norwegian squad
@@shubaduc9486 Selvsagt!
TheBackan lol
I was in restaurant academy (Helsinki Finland) at 1980-1982.
I was 17-19y.
Back then they all were translated blueberry.
I have read "bilberry" sometimes on this century.
In finnish (european) blueberry is "Mustikka", and (american) blueberry was "Pensasmustikka", that in direct translation is "Bush-blueberry".
Back then american variation was stil extremely rare here in Finland.
And usually seen in movies and TV.
First time that i have eaten american blueberry, i was thinking "this do not taste anything, this is fake berry".
It seems true with some species of plants for sure, watermelon is a big one here, but the imported ones taste better than our American ones lol
Im from Sweden and yeah I thought the same about the first time trying American version
@@KiMoKo9787 what variety of watermelon? There's a huge difference in them. I grew up when congo and rattlesnake were the ones mostly planted.
They were big but very good ones.
The new small seedless and sangria that the most common now I don't like at all.
I grow a few of the old kind for the family.
And some of the old yellow ones are pretty good too.
@@tbjtbj4786 we mostly have big ones, 15ish lbs with dark green stripes, pale red insides that tastes like water. They used to be more red and juicy so maybe they're picking too early? I'm unsure of the exact type here in south Florida but ours are usually imported from Georgia
@@KiMoKo9787 seed or seed less?
More like jubilee or sangria.
There in tge 15 lbs range. Light red and water tasting sounds like they were not ripe.
Oh if you think 15 lbs are big.
Try a congo if you find one up to about 75 lbs around 3 feet long.
They are seedy but really sweet.
It's a bit amusing as a (Northern) European to see bilberries referred to as the "special" blueberries and American blueberries as "standard".
I like the texture of blueberries, and the size make them better suited to eat fresh as a snack or on a cheeseboard or something. They also don't go mushy as easily.
That said, I prefer the taste of bilberry, so I guess my ideal "blueberry" to eat right off the plant would be an American blueberry with the flavour and colour of the bilberry.
Hot billberry "soup" is a great dish to have outdoors in the winter. The heat makes them slightly less tart and more aromatic.
I accidentally made a bilberry pie once. I thought they were blueberries, still turned out great.
I have also made both. They are great, though in my opinion a bilberry pie is a bit better. But it's a matter of taste and what you are used to, as always.
Bilberry pie is staple in Sweden and just as popular as apple pie.
@@Merecir: As -American- Swedish as -apple- bilberry pie.
It sounds great. Apple pies are usually made with tart apples, so it would make sense for a blueberry pie to be made with tart berries.
Bilberry pies are what I thought Americans were eating when they said "blueberry pie" until I was about 19. Most Finns don't realize the difference.
The black bilberries are vaccinium myrtillus var. epruinosum, according to old Norwegian folklore these were poisonous because the Common Viper, the only venomous snake up here, had licked them.
The leaf color is the same for both varieties, red leaves before fall is usually a sign of poor nutrition or dehydration.
We have one more blueberry/bilberry species (vaccinium uliginosum) growing here in Norway, they're considered bland, same goes for crowberries.
Thank you! I had a hard time finding information about it. The best I got was the species being the same.
@@WeirdExplorerThe black coloring is a mutation that causes the berries to lose their waxy coating, which normally breaks the light differently to produce the lighter blue color. The wax protects them against dehydration, and since the mutation produces a less hardy variety it does not prevail and propogate to produce a more stable subspecies, but are outcompeted by the vaxy version.
@@WeirdExplorer the first two types of billberrys we call blåbær (blueberrys) in Norway, but the last one vaccinium uliginosum goes by blokkebær (probably because they look and taste quite different). I wouldnt say that crowberrys are bland, they are actually quite tart, but there are a lot of seeds in each berry, so when i eat them, i eat a small handfull of them, then spit the seeds out. My grandparents used to make a really good syrup from crowberrys, which we could mix out with water and drink all throughout the winter.
There where also Vaccinium uliginosum leaves hear and there on the video. Didn't see any berries on them. They are not as good as V. myrtillioides so not eaten even if you can. Krowberries (Empetrum nigrum/hermaphroditum) is also not eaten even if you can.
@@lubricustheslippery5028 the crowberrys are eaten, they taste really good, but the texture is a bit unsettling because of the seeds. When I eat them I squeeze the juice out of them, then spit the seeds out. They also make a really good syrup (saft).
Just discovered this channel today, I wish I could watch all 503 at once but alas. Thank you for making such great, interesting, and educational content.
Same here! I found it a few days ago and I can’t wait to binge them
I found the channel relatively recently and binge watched them all. It took several months. There’s about 500 fruit videos but over 670 in all. This channel is awesome!
That's so funny that you mentioned that blueberries have a basil flavour to them, I thought the same thing, so in culinary school I made a blueberry basil ice cream! It was pretty awesome.
That sounds pretty good. How did it turn out?
@@Thomahawk1234 It was good, but I was still somewhat new to cooking, and I was too sparing with the basil, it wasn't as pronounced a flavour as it should have been. It was still tasty though, would recommend 🙂
So the difference is ours are obese... makes sense lol
And flavourless, it's basically just sugar and hint of blueberry. While bilberries or real blueberries have almost 10 times the flavour.
If you want something really rare, you could look for a hybrid between lingonberry and bilberry. Super rare but they do exist naturally in the wild. There is also a version of bilberry without the blue colour (Vaccinium f. leucocarpum) also super rare.
I'm from Romania, and I always wondered why supermarket blueberries are so different to the blueberries I forage late summer.
Myself I prefer the forest ones just because they're more complex in flavour. But I do like the supermarket ones too
The first few times I ate blueberries they were always freshly picked from a forest or hill here in germany. When I first bought ones from the store and they turned out to be way more watery and less flavorful I was a bit disappointed. I definitly prefer our native variety.
Also, your tounge turning blue from eating them is an integral part of the experience!
Supermarket varieties tend to be native to North America and are in a different subgenus (fruit is in corymbs rather than singly borne, making them generally more productive). Western USA "huckleberries" are in the same subgenus as European bilberries, and Vaccinium uglinossum occurs in both places. (In the Eastern USA, "huckleberry" is a different genus, Gaylusacia baccata , which tastes a bit like our blueberries, but gets a gritty texture from its 10 much larger seeds.). Both highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) and rabbiteye (V. ashei) blueberries have been heavily selected for larger fruit [which markets well here in the USA, where most people seem to be visual shoppers; and where domestication occurred and the bulk of blueberry breeding still occurs] over 20th century, though a few old highbush varieties (Rubel & Rancoccas) are still sold by nurseries and have smaller fruit that I consider generally better (more antioxidants--in North American blueberries, all the color is in the skin; and less likely to create soggy spots in your blueberry muffins). Lowbush blueberries are still usually harvested from the "wild" (the germplasm is wild, but the native plots are maintained/promoted by controlled burning to keep the blueberries dominant and trees suppressed), so they tend to be smaller and a bit more flavorful.
@@erikjohnson9223 very interesting, thanks for the thorough reply
One more thing to add - like most things American blueberries grown in your yard or picked from the wild are going to taste better than a grocery store blueberry by a long shot. I've never had a bilberry so I can't compare, but I'm sure they're equally good. I can't account for the difference between commercial blueberries and home grown/gathered blueberries, but it's definitely noticeable.
@@rachelclark6393 Home grown American blueberries are definitely tastier than storebought ones, but in my opinion only by a little. I still prefer European blueberries waaaay more. But this is of course a personal preference. I like the tartness of the European blueberries. American bluberries taste bland and too sweet in my opnion.
*so I'm going to try the regular one first (tries the massive berries)*
Scandinavian: You call those regular!?
*these are bill berries (points to blueberries)*
Scandinavian: *Oi mate you trying to start a fight?!*
Source: I'm a swede and this was my reaction.
As a finn, this is an opinion I can join forces on with a swede.
Have you ever had an allergic reaction to any of the fruits you’ve tried around the world?
As a European I'm very triggered by your use of the word "bilberry" to describe the original blueberry. Your American ones are called Northern highbush blueberries. European ones are called blueberries.
Except we have wild blueberries that are very close to indistinguishable from your low-bush wild berries. I grew up around them. They are MUCH better than the big cultivated high-bush.
Also in America (virginia) we have wild blueberries called 'huckleberries' of which there are 2 main categories: short, 6 inch high bushes, and tall, 7 foot tall bushes...
Huckleberries are so much better than high bush blueberries. More tart, complex, with a nice amount of sweetness too. They grow everywhere in the Pacific Northwest. We also have Bog blueberry/bog Bilberry, which is very tart and not really that sweet.
@@NatureShy Are huckleberries similar in taste to high bush and euro wild blueberries? is it the same taste and size berries with the low and tall huckleberrybushes?
@@m.b.6402 Have you tried european bluberries and compared if they are similar in taste? Are all wild amerivan blueberries the same or are there varieties. Among culltivatet there are differences in size, height, and taste. Though I haven't tried any besides the common cultivars which are sweet and nice but would be great with some more taste to them.
Im so glad you introduced me to the rake, i can't tell you how tedious its is collection individualy sparsely placed berries, i spent ages yesterday picking individual fruits.
My German parents refused to eat cultivated blueberries for a long time when they came into stores here, because they considered them 'fake' blueberries. Now American blueberries became the standard across Europe though.
There not blue Berry's bill Berry's are something totally different
@@gdn2705 In Germany they are both called Blaubeeren or Heidelbeeren, few people now even know the difference
@@gdn2705 I'm not sure if you are joking or not, with the strange spelling, but I am going to assume you are not. What is called Bilberry in England is called Blaeberry in Scots, which is cognate with the scandinavian "Blåbær/blåbär", literally translating as blueberry. Most continental languages in Europe have a common name variant for Vaccinium myrtillus that translates into "blue berry" in English. In addition the European blueberry and the American blueberry are the same genus so they can be crossbreed with each other, so not that different when it comes down to the biology.
Edit: mixed up of words
@@duprasi8144 I’m German and I use them interchangeably as well. Though now that I remember, my grandparents always refer to Heidelbeeren when they pick them in the forest, so I suppose those were Bilberries.
@@kattkatt744ok no problem it's just where I live in county Durham close to the Moore's there's a lot of simaler looking shrebs with fruit we call billberries.
Swede here, I got kind of offended to hear that what for all my life was blueberries apparently are called "billberries" over there, well "Billberries" stay supreme, the american blueberries are just for decoration... And what you call "northen billberry" is not considered worth the effort to pick
Hi there fellow swede. let me make you a bit happier about that. :)
The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu, a word of Germanic origin. Note that it says germanic origin. And you know what we used to call black things in old swedish/danish probably norwegian too...
Blue! Harald Bluetooth had black teeth for example, not blue. So i guess they used to be seen as blackberries, which is also what theyre known as in russia.
Since the word blue is of germanic origin i claim the blueberry of the european verison to be the original and the one to give blueberries their name. Whatever the native americans called those berries, that are white inside, not blue, would be what theyre called. A european blueberry is a blueberry, both inside and out and they are what that word originates from.
@@n0namesowhatblerp362 Yes, the ones here just have to be the "original" haha. I will return your information with the origin story "fuck" from ancient nordic "focka" (to pull someting back and forwards) its funny that its now back in english form used on a daily in Sweden
In French, Bilberries are called myrtilles (not the same as Myrtle in English) and American blueberries are just called Bleuets.
In Québec, both are known as Bleuets because we don't know the bilberry and we produce a lot of blueberries.
I live in Sweden and i didn't know Americans had a different name for Swedish blueberries "Bilberries" here we just call them blueberries.
The small ones when picked to be sold are picked unripe, but if you plan to eat them yourself you pick them later on and they are logically, sweeter and less tart
First time I've ever heard European blueberries called bilberries. I've seen them also called low-bush blueberries, in contrast to the high-bush berries that are the American type which can grow about 2m tall. For fresh eating the high-bush blueberries are fine, but for baking they're a waste of time.
If you enjoy different kinds of berries you should definitely try Kamchatka honeysuckle - also a blueberry-like taste but completely different - and well worth a trip to Eastern Europe!
As many have noted the bilberries are just blueberries or wild blueberries here, and the blueberries are American blueberries. But there is a further third variety, that isn't sold or grown commercially but is pretty common in non-forested areas like bogs and hearths, as it requires slightly acidic soil. Here in Denmark it's called Mosebøllebær (lit. translation 'bog thimble berry').
Supposedly it also grows in North America, so it shouldn't be entirely unknown to a fruit aficionado, but I don't know the name in English. It's about the same size as the bilberry, but often more elongated (hence the thimble part of the name), the dimple is less pronounced and it is white on the inside with a colourless juice. And it is unfortunately not as strong in taste as the bilberry, but it's still a refreshing little berry. Oh and crowberries (Danish: Revling) often grow alongside it.
Sounds like the Bog Whortleberry.
@@neilbuckley1613 Thank you. Having a name to go off, it is indeed the bog whortleberry.
So, Jared, I can't be the first one to think about how mushrooms are actually fruits (fungi fruits)... When will you do a mushrooms series?
cubensis episode boutta go crazy
That’s be interesting. I’d like to see him review some Chicken of the woods, some Morrel mushrooms, and if he’s lucky some Black Truffle mushrooms 😋
pretty sure he said previously he didn't care much for mushrooms so he wouldn't..
@@mandab.3180 Bah that's just because he hasn't tried enough... Not a fan of typical grocery store mushrooms either (buttons, portobello, shiitake), but wild mushrooms like chicken of the woods, morelles, oyster mushrooms, inkcaps, etc, are another deal entirely! And there are so many!
@@HMan2828 you don't have to convince me 😂 but yea i can understand, if you haven't had good mushrooms you don't know what you're missing.
The forest variety is good to eat with vanilla milk, the bigger ones are more often cultivated in gardens here and are sweeter and good on their own.
I remember bilberries from when I lived in russia. We called them chernika which ironically translates as blackberry. Whereas blackberries are called ezhevika or hedgehog berry. There is also golubika which is the blue berry.
Finns call bilberry 'mustikka', which can be translated as blackberry. The English blackberry is called 'karhunvatukka', bear's raspberry in Finnish.
Same in Austrian German, we call them Schwarzbeere (blackberry)!
Funny thing about the scandinavian languages, the word blue used to mean black. At least in swedish and danish, when something was described as being very dark it was called blue. Nowadays we would all say black of course. Harald Bluetooth is great exampel of this, he probably had black teeth and was thus called bluetooth.
It's funny, because here in Canada, our wild blueberries are nothing like the store blueberries! The store big blueberries are called Highbush blueberries and the wild ones are the Lowbush blueberries, those grow everywhere on mossy and rocky grounds. I've never had a bilberry to compare, but they are even smaller and probably much sweeter. They are also way darker than the usual blueberry on the inside
you should do a video like this but on alpine strawberries! theyre just like bilberries in that theyre smaller than strawberries, sweeter, they need a lot of sun so they take over huge clearings, and the colder they freeze in the winter, the sweeter the fruit is the next summer
I was so confused when I was a kid that my American family members called the one that was all white inside blueberry, because they didn't feel blue enough, the billberry (which I grew up thinking was blueberry) was so much bluer, and made the fingers bluer.
North American wild blueberries are VERY different to those farmed blueberries. They are smaller, darker, are very flavorful. They are amazingly packed with antioxydents. They grow very well in Quebec and New England and are some of the first plants to grow after a fire. The more up north you are, the more more intense the taste.
Where I lived there were some blueberries growing alongside bilberries. Everyone thought them to be inferior that they were not even picked by most. I've heard some of them call them as rubbish berries because they were so tasteless in comparison. To be sure, most tasted so mild and some had no flavour at all. The blueberries are easy to spot, because the plants are much taller.
I agree that the best ones are the black and shiny ones, but the dusty blue ones are the most common type.
In the height of the season the whole undergrowth is a blue with barriers; it is difficult to stop even when your buckets are full and your back is begging you to stand straight.
The blueberries or bilberries were called rubbish berries?
@@iforgotmyusername11 blueberries
@@iforgotmyusername11 Blueberries. I'm used to them now I cannot get bilberries but when I first bought blueberries I was disappointed with the lack of flavour. I didn't buy them again for several years because I didn't think they were worth the money.
im from denmark and i dont like normal big blueberrys that you get in the supermarket they just taste bland but when i find the small ones i the wild they kinda taste like raspberry and apple wich is amazing and i can feel the vitamins and in sweden they are even better sorry for the bad grammer
Thanks for the bil/blueberry rundown. I found it really intriguing as I get lots of frozen polish blueberries but cannot figure out the intricacies 😅
The redleaf billberry is the same as the green leafed ones, they just lack the eproinosum . Used to be know as Shoemakers billberries, why I have no clue. You had lingon but also some bearberrys too.
I think it was because children would pick bilberries to sell and earn money for their school shoes.
@@williamfullofwood7421 Well the black ones was seen as not edible by the older generation.
Shiny like leather, possibly?
@@casanovafunkenstein5090 Could be, they thought animals had peed on the berries.
You can buy SYLT BLÅBÄR (Bilberry jam) and DRYCK BLÅBÄR (Bilberry syrup) at your local IKEA.
Although they label them as Blueberry products.
The "Queens jam" is also available as SYLT HALLON & BLÅBÄR
I fun to watch someone be fascinated by a standard blueberry forest (or apparently called billberry sometimes). Like, this is how most of the Nordic countries look like all over, just forests filled with berries, everywhere. From the very south to the very north.
That’s how it looks like in the Pacific Northwest too, in North America. Carpets of huckleberries and bog blueberries. Huckleberries are tart and sweet, and bog blueberries are smaller, have a dusty blue coating, and very tart but not so sweet.
Hi Jared.
That reminds me of my childhood when we went just into the woods behind my parents' house to eat as much as we could of bilberries and the very sour lingonberries, that must have an 11 on your scale, Hahaha. Much more sour than cranberries.
After the feeding frenzi we mostly came home with purple blueish spots on hands and clothes, and a blackish purple tongue.
I grew up south of Nürnberg/Mittelfranken in northern bavaria, and they grew everywhere.
I agree they are better than the cultivated american blueberries, but not available on the market for a reasonable price.
I haven't seen them for sale for maybe 30 years.
As a swede this entire video feels like blasphemy.
Cool video! Honestly from the looks of it, the patch of billberries (and other berries) that you found doesn't look that bountiful to me as a Swede. Normally if it's a good berry year (which it was this year), you can find tens of berries on every plant (or is the correct word "bush" maybe?).
Fun fact: A Swedish brown bear can eat up to 20k calories per day from mostly just billberries and maybe crowberries during high season!
Huckleberries are the best! Having never tried a bilberry, I’d imagine that they taste fairy similar to huckleberries. Huckleberries are just like you described, more tart, complex, but perhaps the difference being more sweeter than a bilberry?
My mum called them whimberries and we would normally have them in a pie. Strangely these were her favourite fruit.
Billberries! I've been waiting for this. As a child growing up in the UK we only ever had billberries that we picked in the hills. Then when I was a teenager the supermarkets started selling blueberries, but they were white inside! They also didn't turn the custard purple when you mixed a crumble of them with it 😆
Edit: Me and my dad used to have competitions for who could find the biggest ones... we called them prize guys
Mmmmm, bilberry crumble.
@@pattheplanter bilberry crumble pie with vanilla sauce is one of my earliest childhood memories
When I was teaching at a summer camp in Poland, the forest around the camp was FILLED with wild blueberry plants. I spent a couple hours picking a basketful of them to share with people. It was hella fun.
This is legit the first time I have heard the word bilberry and had to google it :D we just translate these bilberries or mustikka in Finnish as blueberries.
I have tried those big blueberries/bush blueberries (pensas mustikka) that they sell in supermarket once and they tasted like mild grapes and pear to me so I personally prefer the bilberries/mustikka more. Also when someone talks about blueberries I connect the word to the taste of mustikka or in this case bilberry, i think.
Bilberries & Huckleberries seem to be rather similar. Huckleberries & Blueberries are slightly different in the genus. The most interesting article I've read about them come from Montana. Although, Montana says they're hard pressed to be found in the East, however, I know that huckleberries are very prolific on top of Roan Mountain in Tennessee.
I’ve been eating bilberries my entire life and didn’t know
You've been eating actual blueberries, not american blueberries.
I remember buying frozen "blueberries" once, and was like wtf is this. Turned out to be american blueberries. Imo they taste pretty much nothing, sweet but almost no flavour.
Wild blueberries taste better than the large commercial ones. They're tiny and I love them.
i never knew what is an english name for bilberries, in poland we call them jagody and the thing you show that is used to pick them up is kinda banned bc it harms the plant when you brush it through the leaves
So I learned that blueberries that are the only native blueberry species in my country are actually called bilberry in english. The "actual blueberry" is called canadian blueberry here and you can buy it as a plant and grow it yourself, but you'll never find it in nature. 2:00 it is illegal to use this tool in Czech republic. We call it a comb.
The big blueberries are often referred to as american blueberries while the small ones you forage are just blueberries or forest blueberries.
They love newly cut forest, but as the trees grow there'll be less berries on the plants. Sun is crucial.
It's strange seeing someone so fascinated with something so common.
In Poland the bilberries are the normal ones, growing in the wild, as you saw them in Finlad :) They're intense, sweet, the skin is a bit tart, and the juice stains everything. Perfect for cakes, milkshakes, jams or even pierogi (dumplings) filling. In Polish the bilberries are called "jagody" (don't know the ethymology and it doesn't really translate to anything, but we also name a colour "jagodowy" - light purple) and the American ones are "borówki" or "American borówki", and they're different enough I wouldn't normally even consider them same fruit.
Fins calls it mustikka and same in russian - chernika, probably because it's nearly black, not blue.
musta -> black
musti -> Something that is black, also a commonish but maybe archaic dog name.
mustikka -> Small black thing?
I grew up eating wild blueberries, here in Pennsylvania. The wild ones look more like the bilberries. The I never really liked the cultivated blueberries; sure, they're a lot bigger, but they have way less flavor. We'd pick two different types of blueberries: lowbush blueberries, which look like those wild bilberry plants, and highbush blueberries. The highbush are easier to pick; you don't have to stoop over since the bushes are usually as tall or taller than you, and, being bigger, one bush would have a lot more berries. Picking the highbush berries is very peaceful and almost zen-like, if you can avoid being eaten alive by bugs.
I buy the bags of wild frozen blueberries and I was wondering how they compare to these two. I'd love to see a video of that.
I have a feeling that bilberries would make a beautiful brandy.
We’ve been picking bilberries our whole life not knowing they were a different fruit than blueberries haha thanks for the info!
Where are you from?
I'm insulted that you would call those genetic monstrosities American, in Minnesota we got some dank ass berries native I will never store by blueberries again. That's just from personal experience I know what a good berries tastes like.
Try some fresh organic blueberries or wild blueberries in America and you will be surprised. They taste much different. Super sweet, juicy, and a bit tart. Delicious, I prefer these blueberries over bilberries.
The commercial blueberries are way bigger then the wild type in NA. Also less flavorful.
There are low bush and high bush blueberries. The ones harvested using a comb device are wild low bush types that grow in colder climates..
I have found most berries have the recommendation of 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. From what I have read this is due to the sunlight helping ripen the fruit. Red also happens on blueberries. It is supposed to happen when it gets more cool.
European Blueberry
American Blueberry
'nuff said.
put the bilberries in milk and mush it up, tastes great
I think I’ve seen the evergreen-looking ones locally, here in Eugene, OR. Also, at a farm stand in Damascus, OR, you can get delicious blueberries the size of a mandarin orange... by the flat. It’s literally on the edge of the fields where the fruit is grown.
Blueberries with sugar is a killer combo.
Alaskan wild and Maine wild are definitely more similar to billberries. I believe AK blueberries are indeed a type of billberries, and I would definitely take them over blueberries any day! Grew up with AK wild blueberries and that tart sweetness.
While you are in EU you should absolutely take a look at the, deeply underestimated, black current. I might be bias but the best are in Denmark, here we have a late summer tradition, we take a bowl of black currents, like a cereal sized, ad milk or cream and top with sugar or honey.
Please help spread the word of the black current.
Thanks J
Wtf! I would ho back to Poland for the summers and go- or at least thought I did- Blueberry picking and foraging in the forest. I always thought they were blueberries, no one has ever told me different! Although, similarly to what our Finnish cousins have said, the "regular" blueberries were called American berry (not Blueberry, there's no word like that in the polish language) in the shops.
Here's a fun fact for you. 17% of swedens surface area is covered in blueberry bushes.
I’ve actually had bilberries, surprisingly enough. Thanks for that goes to a pot luck I attended, to which someone brought a bunch, and about which said person informed me.
On Cape Henlopen I ve noted at least 3 kinds of Blueberries. A bush that was exactly like supermarket Blueberries and lots of what looked like the Bilberries that were either blue or black. Those were tiny, like in the video. There is also a medium size berry that's lighter than the Bilberries, but darker than the dusty blue commercial store kind. All were yummy , w the commercial variety the least wonderful, but better than it's store or produce stand equals. The small blue/black ones grow in the wetter sections right next to Cranberries. Blackberry's grow as well, but are awful, not sweet at all and deal breaker bitter.
Hi, I've enjoyed this video, especially the comparison with commercial blueberries as well as your mystery berry. I'd thought I'd share my experiences that might shed some light on the mystery. I do my berry picking above 4000' in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest of the US. Up there you find a couple varieties of wild blueberries that are closer to you bilberries than the commercial blueberries. Then, in with them are three or four varieties of what we call huckleberries.
The blueberries are blue with that white coating, (actually wild yeast accumulated from the air not wax), like your bilberries. Their leaves are green and rounded just like your bilberry and soft and supple to the touch. Frankly, I wish somebody would get those blueberry bushes out of my way some I could get to the huckleberries easier!
The huckleberries do not have the white coating. The varieties all have some amount of red to them. One variety just enough to make them a darker blue then the blueberries, some enough to made the berries look black like your mystery berry. All them have some red in their leaves and are more pointed with a rougher edge like your mystery berry. One variety has so much red to it that the stems are also red and the berries have an almost royal purple tint to them. The leaves are all "crisper" and almost sticky to the touch. The varieties range from about 18" tall up to 6-7 feet. The tallest is my favorite. It produce berries almost the size of those commercial blueberries and jet black and juicy and sweet. From what I'm seeing your mystery berry is what we call a huckleberry.
By the way, if you ever what the explore out here I'll take you up to these fields as well as take out picking blackcaps. These aren't those "blackcaps" you can buy in the store, those are really just black raspberries. These are the native Northwest blackberries. They are the only thing I like better than my huckleberries.
hey man! I love your channel and every single video I've seen so far :) I was checking out your Patreon and I was definitely thinking of doing the $100 tier thing because going to NYC (live in Westchester btw) and trying some new crazy fruits sounds awesome to me and I would love to support the channel to be able to see more awesome videos. However, I know Covid might be a bit of a roadblock for that so I was wondering if you have any idea when a trip like that would be doable for you, I also have a buddy who would love to come along and I was wondering if I did end up doing this trip sometime would it be possible to bring my friend for free or would it be necessary for him to support the $100 tier Patreon as well. (I think it would be an easy sell haha)
Bilberries grow in pretty much every forest in the Netherlands. Many people go to the forest to pick them
Jared cutting a little berry in half. Are you on a diet? 😂
I wonder if weird explorer ever tried what we Swedes call Smultron, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca. Loved eating them as a kid in a bowl of milk like cereal. Tastes different from regular strawberries.
If you can wear a t shirt and pick bilberries in Finland, they're not ripe. The way you describe them, and the size of them, looks like you got unripe ones. They're decent but leaving them for 3- weeks on the plant and they will grow much larger and sweeter.
Try European wild strawberries. They are divine
I never realised that blueberries could be white or green. I thought that American blueberries were the same as the blueberries that I ate.
huh...SOUR?
I've never had any bilberries that are SOUR...nor blueberries...
also over here (estonia), we call the big ones "cultured blackberries" and forest ones just "blackberries", while you call them blueberries and bilberries respectively... which is interesting...
blackberries as translated directly, when one would put it in english, they'd probably use blueberry instead... it's interesting how it's blackberry and not blueberry too, since the coating is blue... maybe back in the day there was less blue waxy coated variants? or people just found several blue berries and decided that this one is black underneath, but that one isn't so that's the name? idk
They are kinda sour, at least in Sweden.
We get billberrys on the Moors in County Durham in England they taste nothing wrong with them they go great in blackberry and apple crumble best served with custard.
I love the videos you do where you are out in the wild or otherwise and give some history on the fruit too, The one where you went to Jamacia and cooked with a local particularly stands out in memory. I'm curious when the rest of the Milk alternative showdowns will be posted too? Thanks for the great vids man
Jamacia? Where is it?
@@marilynlawson8216 my bad, Jamaica.
Poland here - I used to always pick by hand! And I did these hardcore picking days where I spent whole days (4.30am, just pale dawn, to 7pm, leaving forest when it's almost dark) I used to be able to collect more or less 20-25litres, all by hand. I am always pissed off when seeing people using the raking devices - they tear leaves off from bushes, they break stems, after a short while, the whole place is ruined and no longer having berries. These devices are restricted and u may get fined for using them. I never used and I simply hate them.
Make smoothies, and ooh, pasta, but pasta has to be homemade, don't waste time on store bought pasta. Blueberries ( we call them American blueberries) they just can't beat the wild ones. I planted 8 bushes on my garden, they r producing nicely, but they just can't do , compared to wild ones. Especially when it comes to smoothies , make smoothie with American blueberries and forest billberies, and just compare. Wild are just absolutely better in smoothies. Also as they grow in forest all naturally, no fertilisers and no other agricultural "enhancements". They r super healthy. They now keep coming up with the new "superfruits" but none deserve this title more than wild billbery!
In the Czech Republic, the American ones are called Canadian blueberries. They are good, but they taste completely different from ours. Ours are much better, have a fuller taste and a nicer color. It turns everything purple ..
I'm from Canada, and I've never liked those big store-bought blueberries. The wild species that grow here are much more similar in appearance and flavour to the bilberries and I was fortunate enough to grow up primarily in the fringes of the boreal forest in Western Canada so I was always surrounded in wild blueberries. On the very rare occasions my mother would buy blueberries from the grocery store, all of us kids would complain about having to eat them because they were so bland and watery. These days, I don't completely hate the simple sweetness of the store-bought berries, but wild blueberries are still so much better.
Live in Canada and I’ve literally never seen a green or white inner flesh blueberry
They should be called fakeberries since they fake being blueberries due to the lack of colour inside its shell.
@@tobiaswedin like genuinely confused. You get a blueberry anything and the filling is a reddish purple, not fucking white or green.
The ones with green stalks you're showing last are the real European blueberries. The ones with the dark stalk might be bog bilberries.
And American "blueberries" are not blueberries :)
In Germany bog bilberries are called Rauschbeere (inebriation-berry), because you can get intoxicated of them. There is supposed to be a fungus parasite that can be inside of the berries so that you accidentally get high while eating them.
Im from Sweden and i remember the first time i ate American blueberrys, i tought they were normal blueberrys but just huge and was reallt exited. Sadly they just taste sweet, probably one of my least favorite berrys.
Sometimes you can get them when they are a mixture of sour and sweet. That is basically my benchmark for all fruit, I like some sourness or tang to balance the sweet.
Same
The odd berry you foud at the end may be a rare billberry hybrid. Possibly blingon (billberry × lingonberry). If so you are very lucky, they are supposedly very tasty. I'm not an expert though so I may very well be wrong.
EDIT: I'm probably wrong. The comment by @Jon-Petter Magessønn seems much more likely.
Its blueberry the other bigger is hybridblueberry
In Alaska a lot of us call those so called American blueberries “fake blueberries” they are not like the normal native blueberries. Ours are little and tart, the farmed blueberries are large and tasteless.
I am betting this guy has had his stomach pumped.