Mmmm, lingonberries

[Phaedrus]

A fruit so nice it has two names, in German. Preselbeeren and Johannisbeeren.

We've lived in this house, not quite a year, so I missed out on last year's orgy of lingonberry fruit.

This year, we were startled by the growth of a bush in our backyard, under our other bushes. Unfortunately it cohabitates with nettles and purplestem, which is plant that could give poison ivy lessons in pain.

So, yesterday and today, I put on the rubber gloves and the thick jeans and dove into the bush, enduring monumental pain in order to enjoy some of this tart/sweet/intense flavor.

I've already made some jam and a pie: Can't decide to do with the rest of it.

Though there's enough berries left in my one little patch to make 100 pies.

I'll get some pics, later, when I'm not as sore and tired....

 

[jdoggivjc]

I'm assuming lingonberries is not to be confused with dingleberries?

 

[dosry5]

I'm assuming lingonberries is not to be confused with dingleberries?

Ahhhhhhh the dingleberry, a lovely treat. I like mine with syrup.

 

[Cyclonic]

When I was in college I went on a tour of Norway and Sweden, and we did "home stays". A friend and I stayed at on older ladies house, and she served us fresh lingonberries and some home made potato salad. The berries were not quite ripe yet and the potato salad had so much dill it was green. That night, I puked. And not just a little puke, one of the memorable pukes where you ralph so hard your gut hurts for days and the dill made my esophogus sting.

Needless to say, I have respectfully declined the berries ever since. I am sure they are tasty, when ripe...

 

[vmbplayer]

Ich habe hunger, that was until Cyclonic went and talked about blowing chunks.

 

[spk123]

Johannisbeeren sind anders als Preiselbeeren, oder? I thought that Johannisbeeren are currants (black or red), while Preiselbeeren (or Kronsbeeren) are lingonberries. Similar, but taste a bit different, and belong to different families...

(I only mention it because I confused them once, and my host mom in Germany gave me a long lecture on how they were different. Never in a million years did I think that talk would be relevant again... )

 

[Jables22]

The shnozberries taste like shnozberries!

 

[CyGuy33]

The grey berries taste like burning... Ralph Wiggum

 

[Palmer]

A fruit so nice it has two names, in German. Preselbeeren and Johannisbeeren.

We've lived in this house, not quite a year, so I missed out on last year's orgy of lingonberry fruit.

This year, we were startled by the growth of a bush in our backyard, under our other bushes. Unfortunately it cohabitates with nettles and purplestem, which is plant that could give poison ivy lessons in pain.

So, yesterday and today, I put on the rubber gloves and the thick jeans and dove into the bush, enduring monumental pain in order to enjoy some of this tart/sweet/intense flavor.

I've already made some jam and a pie: Can't decide to do with the rest of it.

Though there's enough berries left in my one little patch to make 100 pies.

I'll get some pics, later, when I'm not as sore and tired....

had some of those berries while stationed in Pirmasens.

mighty tasty.

 

[Wesley]

Just to keep the berries straight according to wickipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry
In botany, the berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary and one or more carpels within a thin covering and fleshy interiors. The seeds are embedded in the common flesh of the ovary. Examples of botanical berries include the tomato, grape, lychee, loquat, lucuma, plantain, avocado, persimmon, eggplant, guava, uchuva (ground cherry), and chili pepper.

Modified berries

The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a modified berry called a hesperidium.
The fruit of cucumbers and their relatives are modified berries called "pepoes". A plant that bears berries is referred to as bacciferous.
True berries are distinguishable from false berries like blueberries and cranberries for which the fruit is formed from other parts of the flower, not just the ovary. Also not true berries, aggregate fruits like raspberries are collections of small fruits, and accessory fruits like strawberries are formed from parts of the plant other than the flower. As explained below, none of these is a true berry.

 

[Phaedrus]

Johannisbeeren sind anders als Preiselbeeren, oder? I thought that Johannisbeeren are currants (black or red), while Preiselbeeren (or Kronsbeeren) are lingonberries. Similar, but taste a bit different, and belong to different families...

(I only mention it because I confused them once, and my host mom in Germany gave me a long lecture on how they were different. Never in a million years did I think that talk would be relevant again... )

I could be mistaken; but the local grocers is selling "my" berries as Johannisbeeren.

And they taste suspiciously similar to my Swedish lingonberries I bought at IKEA.

Either way, they are delicious. And painful.

 

[Cyclonepride]

My wife's step mom is a NE Iowa Lutheran and serves Lingonberries for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She also serves some kind of brownish German cheese that everyone seems to be afraid of. I can't remember what it is called, and I haven't tried it yet. Something toast.

 

[Phaedrus]

I went back out last night, and noticed the cherries are turning, as well, on this little-bitty cherry tree we have growing, so I picked everything that was threatening to turn red, and baked it into a pie.

Is there anything in the world better than cherry pie made from sour cherries?

I finally have my crust recipe down. My oldest daughter accused me of using Phyllo dough from the market, because it was so light and flaky.

My wife hates making pie crust, so she has nominated me for pie crust maker for eternity....