Fruit

Bilberry Pie

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With An ORAC score of 111, bilberries rank among some of the most antioxidant rich foods in the world. This means that per cup consumed they pack a much healthier punch than most all other foods and have excellent anti-aging, anti-cancer and pro immune system properties to help both fight off and prevent a plethora of health issues and diseases.

Here’s a recipe for a yummy desert that is not only good, it’s good for you!

Ingredients:
In a large bowl add together:

  • 5 cups Bilberries
  • 6 Teaspoons Cornstarch
  • 1 to 1.5 cups- sugar
  • 1 teaspoons grated lemon rind (optional)
  • 3- dabs of butter

Directions:

Mix the above ingredients together with a spoon so that everything is well distributed; pour into the bottom pie shell as it sets in the pie plate. Dot the top of the mixture with 2 or 3 dabs of butter. Top off with the second pie shell. Once it is correctly positioned you should have a 1 inch overlap on the top crust so that it can be crimped with the bottom crust. Crimp or pinch the two crusts together and make a decorative edge to seal the two pie crusts.

The pie can be refrigerated until you are ready to bake or baked immediately. To bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place the pie on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for 15 minutes then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30-40 minutes or until the filling starts to bubble over. Once the pie looks done and the crust is a light golden brown, it should be done.

Take it out and let the pie cool on a cooling rack until it is ready to serve. Some notes: baking your pie may take less time or a little longer depending on your oven. Just in case it starts to bubble over the side, place a sheet under the pie plate to save cleaning the oven.

From: NW Wild Foods

Bilberry Shrub

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Shrubs are like syrups made with a healthy dose of vinegar. Most often flavored with fruit, shrubs are the grown-up answer to syrups. Shrub can be used in many of the same places as syrup, such as in fizzy water and cocktails, or to dress fruit salads, but the vinegar used to make shrub gives it a perfect punch of sour meets sweet.

There are some shrubs that I prefer to make with fruit that has never been cooked, only macerated with sugar. However, I think it is easier to maximize the flavor and amount of juice in bilberries by making a cooked syrup.

Preparation time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

  • 1 part fruit (all parts by volume, not weight)
  • 3 parts sugar
  • 1 part water
  • Rice vinegar or other light clear vinegar, equal in measure to the amount of bilberry syrup

Directions:

1. In a pot, lightly crush the bilberries together with the sugar, and let them sit for an hour.

2. Add the water, and bring the bilberries to a boil. Being such small berries, this is all they need to cook. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the bilberries cool to room temperature.

3. Strain out the solids from the bilberry syrup, and be certain to save them to put atop ice cream or your morning toast.

4. Measure the syrup, and combine it with an equal amount of rice vinegar. Stir gently to combine. Pour the shrub into mason jars, and store them in a very cold pantry or refrigerator for at least six months before serving. Once aged, the sharp edges of the vinegar will soften and become the perfect balance for the fruit.

Found at: Zester Daily

Wild Bilberry Sauce

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Bilberry, or Vaccinium myrtillus, is a true treasure of the Great Pacific Northwest. With An ORAC score of 111, these berries rank among some of the most antioxidant rich foods in the world. This means that per cup consumed they pack a much healthier punch than most all other foods and have excellent anti-aging, anti-cancer and pro immune system properties to help both fight off and prevent a plethora of health issues and diseases.

Bilberry Sauce

This simple Bilberry Sauce makes a delicious topping for ice cream or cakes. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups bilberries (frozen or thawed)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

In a medium saucepan combine ingredients and stir until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and cook for 5 minutes at a gentle simmer. Serve hot or cold.

Directions:
In a medium saucepan combine ingredients and stir until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and cook for 5 minutes at a gentle simmer. Serve hot or cold.

Adapted from a recipe on NW Wild Foods

Huckleberry Cream Scones

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Huckleberries (V.Myrtilllus or Bilberry) is used traditionally as a natural remedy for kidney stones, scurvy and urinary infections. Bilberries can be used as a supportive treatment for diabetes, both because the berries reduce blood sugar and because they can prevent eye diseases and blood vessel disorders that can accompany diabetes.

Here’s a recipe for Huckleberry Cream Scones:

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
  • ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon cream
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup huckleberries, frozen
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Add in the cubes of butter, and gently toss them with a fork to coat them with flour. Then use the back of the fork to crush the pieces of butter into smaller and smaller pieces as they combine with the flour. Stop when most of the butter is unrecognizable.

3. Make a hole in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Add the ¾ cup cream, egg and vanilla to the depression and use the fork to gently beat them together before gently combining them with the flour and butter. Just before the dough comes together, add the huckleberries. As gently as possible, continue stirring, just until the dough holds together.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and press the dough into a circle 1½ inches thick. Use a butter knife to cut the circle into six wedges. Gently separate the wedges so that they are at least 2 inches apart, and blunt the pointy end with your finger.

5. Brush the top of each with the extra tablespoon of cream, and sprinkle on some of the coarse sugar.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms and tops of the scones are lightly brown.

From: Zester Daily

Bilberry Smoothie

800a753a20f7e739b23840655d243ac7Bilberries have been used for nearly 1,000 years in traditional European medicine. Bilberry fruits have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (directly or as tea or liqueur) for treatment of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and diabetes. Herbal supplements of V. myrtillus (bilberry) on the market are used for circulatory problems, as vision aids, and to treat diarrhea and other conditions.

Here’s a recipe for a simple bilberry smoothie:

  • 1 cup of bilberries
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup of yogurt.

Whizz in a blender. Add honey and/or lemon juice to taste.

 

Cold Bilberry Soup

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Some people use bilberry for conditions of the heart and blood vessels including hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), varicose veins, decreased blood flow in the veins, and chest pain. Bilberry is also used for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), hemorrhoids, diabetes, osteoarthritis, gout, skin infections, gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, kidney disease, and urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Here’s a wonderful dessert/dish for a summer’s day:

Take a quart of bilberries, bruise or mash. Add the same amount of water and a little lemon juice. Simmer, add sugar to taste. If you don’t like the seeds and skins, you can strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Dissolve a little cornstarch and add to thicken, but take care not to use too much. Simmer a little while longer, then allow to cool and put in the fridge. Whip some cream. When the bilberry soup is cold enough, serve with dabs of fresh whipped cream.

Bilberry Jam

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Bilberry is used for improving eyesight, including night vision. In fact, during World War II, British pilots in the Royal Air Force ate bilberry jam to improve their night vision. Bilberry is also used for treating eye conditions such as cataracts and disorders of the retina. There is some evidence that bilberry may help retinal disorders.

Here’s a recipe:

Put 3 lb. of clean, fresh fruit in a preserving pan with 1 1/2 lb. of sugar and about 1 cupful of water and bring to the boil. Then boil rapidly for 40 minutes. Apple juice made from windfalls and peelings, instead of the water, improves this jam. To make apple juice, cover the apples with water, stew down, and strain the juice through thick muslin. Blackberries may also be added to this mixture.

If the jam is to be kept long it must be bottled hot in screw-top jars, or, if tied down in the ordinary way, more sugar must be added.

From: A Modern Herbal

Oregon Grape Lavender Jelly

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Our modern palate oscillates between the addictive flavors of salty and sweet, but we have lost an essential ingredient to optimal health: bitter plants. They are so rare in our diet that many people cannot name anything with bitterness except coffee. Historically, humans valued bitters for their digestive stimulating and medicinal properties. Oregon grape is a quintessential bitter plant that has the capacity to cleanse, clarify and enliven body and spirit.

Here’s a simple step by step recipe for Oregon Grape Lavender Jelly (Low sugar):

Measure 8 cups of clean, rinsed Oregon grape berries. Place berries in a cooking pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 15 minutes. Use a large spoon to mash the berries against the side of the pot so the juice is released.

oregongrapejam-300x273Place a Foley food mill over another cooking pot. In 1 to 2 cup increments, turn the berries and juice through the food mill so that the seeds are separated. Remove the seeds from the mill before straining another batch.

Measure 4 cups of the juice/pulp. Place the juice in a cooking pot. Stir in 2 teaspoon of calcium water (included in Pomona’s Pectin, and 2 tablespoons of fresh or dried lavender.

In a separate bowl, measure 2 cups of honey and stir in 2 teaspoons of pectin.

Bring the juice in the cooking pot to a boil. Add the honey/pectin and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes until the mixture returns to a boil. Remove from heat.

Place the jelly in clean hot canning jars, wipe the top of the jars to remove any spillage, cover with lids, and can in a water bath for 10 minutes. If any lids do not seal, refrigerate the jar of jelly and use within three weeks.

Oregon Grape Jam

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Oregon grape was often used by several native North American Indian tribes. The blue fruits are tart and improve after frost. They are often gathered for jelly or wine. Used to treat a wide variety of ailments, Oregon Grape species contain the extremely potent alkaloid, berberine, (also found in goldenseal) which is antiseptic and stimulates the liver and spleen.

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart Oregon Grapes (Mahonia aquifolia or other Mahonias)
  • 3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
  • 1 box fruit pectin
  • 7 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 – 12 oz can frozen concord grape juice concentrate
  • Enough water ready to add to grape, apple pulps and juice concentrate to make the measurement of 6 cups.
  • 8 – 8oz jars, lids and rims

Take out about 1/4 cup grapes and a heaping tablespoon of small apple pieces and set aside. Then follow the cooking steps for grape jam inside the pectin package adding the set-aside fruits to the jars just before sealing. If you don’t have enough wild Oregon Grapes at one time, you can freeze them until you have enough.

This recipe is from a woman in Coquille, Oregon, which is along the southern Oregon Coast. Her name is Rachel Ordway Smith. She has other recipes using fruits from northwest native plants on her web site at Arts Desire

Mimosas with Fresh Mint and Oranges

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This is a very cooling summer drink.

Ingredients:

  • 1 orange
  • 2 cups fresh orange juice
  • 1 cup sparkling wine or champagne
  • 1 to 3 drops peppermint essential oil (to taste)
  • 4 fresh mint leaves, for garnish

Slice orange in half. Cut two thin slices of the orange & save them to use as a garnish. Stir orange juice together with the sparkling water, add the peppermint oil.. Serve in champagne flutes & garnish each glass with two mint leaves & one thin orange slice.

Note: Sparkling mineral water or ginger ale can be substituted for the wine.

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"Diet has the distinction of being the only major determinant of health that is completely under your control. You have the final say over what does and what does not go into your mouth and stomach. You cannot always control the other determinants of health, such as the quality of the air you breathe, the noise you are subjected to, or the emotional climate of your suroundings, but you can control what you eat. It is a shame to squander such a good opportunity to influence your health." ~Andrew Weil, MD
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