Blueberry Adventure in Poland

July 27, 2012

Well, here I am writing from the "Lowcountry" of Poland....the Baltic Coast!  If you have not been following our move from Northern Virginia to Poland, please check out shoresofgdansk.blogspot.com

So, from one Lowcountry to another, my food adventure has been rewarding in this first week in Europe. I was amazed to see that the main farmer's market of Gdansk is both outdoor and indoor - fresh produce, flowers and fruit on the outdoor street-level, and then one level below is where you find the meats, fish and dairy.  It is an amazing place with beautiful colors and smells!  We have been buying our food almost every day fresh from the market and cooking it for lunch and supper.  The market is about a kilometer away from our apartment; an easy, romantic and picturesque daily walk through the medieval city.

One of the best things I've come across so far is the European Bilberry, a type of wild blueberry that Europeans have been consuming for food and as medicine for over a thousand years. The Poles call these berries Jagody Leśne or forest berries. They are about half the size of the typical American High Bush blueberry variety that we are used to seeing in the States. They have a blueberry taste to them, but it is not as strong. 

If you have ever had a wild blueberry in the States, even in a blueberry muffin, you have probably consumed a Native North American Wild Blueberry, or "star berry." They are super tiny but pack a flavor punch! I prefer them to "normal" blueberries for baking. 

For those of you who want to get nerdy, 

here is a link to the Blueberry's Family Tree - Vaccininum spp. taxonomy

On the left is a typical American Highbush Blueberry variety. On the right is a Native American Star Berry.

Both of these types of blueberries are growing on my parent's property in Banks County, Georgia.

The European Bilberry is about halfway between these two varieties in size and flavor. 

Blueberries are finished for the year in the Southern United States, but the season is still going strong in northern Poland!

The Highbush Blueberries in Poland are called "American Blueberries."  The varieties are American in origin, but Poland produces them commercially on a huge scale. 

Supposedly the forest berries (bilberries) are not cultivated here. People go out into the forests and gather the berries to sell at the markets. The forests in Poland are also all government owned and managed. There is no such thing as a private forest in Poland, unlike in the UK or in the States.  You can go pick your own if you want to!

What did we do with our forest berries?  We ate them with our normal morning yogurt and granola.

There is also about a kilo of them in our freezer for those cold winter months! I can't wait to make some muffins!