I like to brush a coating of milk (or egg white) over the pastry and sprinkle brown sugar for a nice finish. There are reports of the RAF using Bilberries to help with night vision during bombing raids but this appears to be a story linked to carrots which were said to be used by the RAF in an attempt to conceal the fact Britain had radar. Butter 6 x 7.5cm/3in dariole moulds (or a 22cm/9in ovenproof dish if you want to make one large pie). In Ireland, fraughans (the Irish word for wimberries) were celebrated with Fraughan Sunday, the last Sunday in July, being a survival of the pre-Christian Celtic festival of Lughanasa (or Lughnasadh), where young people would climb the hills to pick the berries and the girls would incorporate the berries into a cake to take to the local dance that evening and present the cake to whatever ‘fella’ they had their eye on. Brush the pastry top with a little lightly beaten egg then sprinkle with the fine/caster sugar. But it does have its uses. Think of the wimberry as the red squirrel of the berry world - perfectly adequate but increasingly fazed out by its more durable North American cousin. As we will be in Wales visiting my in-laws, it will be Grandma helping her granddaughter in the kitchen. Bilberries can be picked from July to September. Picking Wimberries Picking Wimberries In The Brecon Beacons For A (Secret) Seasonal Wimberry Pie Recipe. Preheat the oven to 190°C. I’ve heard it mentioned that some people sprinkle semolina on the pastry base before adding the berries as this soaks up some of the juice, but I’ve not tried it as yet. About the recipe: I added oat brans and spelt to make the smoothie even healthier and richer in fibers. Great news, we've signed you up. Put somewhere safe and shake gently once a week or so. 300g./3 1/2 cups flour (plain/all-purpose), 150g./5 oz. Wimberry or Bilberry Pie Pies and Pastries Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland Commonly a very low-bake double-crust plate pie of sweetened white pastry filled with sweetened whimberries alone. Aside from being incredibly tasty, this wonder berry has been used by soldiers to improve night-vision and is thought to aid gout, skin infections and many other ailments. Image courtesy of Oregon State University Archives. Place the remaining pastry over the top of the berries, and make two insertions in the middle to allow steam to escape. Others prefer to savour it cold. Bilberry Vodka/Gin Recipe. Scatter some sugar over the berries; without sugar the berries are quite bitter (not as much as blackcurrants, but still quite ‘tart’, so I’d recommend adding some). It is delicious served warm with thick cream or a good vanilla ice cream. Line a 9 inch ceramic pie plate with the pastry, cutting off the overhanging … How you serve up the pie is a matter of choice. Bilberry, blueberry, blaeberry, whortleberry, whinberry, huckleberry, hartberry, hurtleberry, wimberry and frochan are all the same thing. The jelly recipe is a bit sweeter, and I think I prefer the tartness of the jam recipe. Get it free when you sign up for our newsletter! Place the sugar into a large baking bowl. In fact, it isn’t just populations of the British Isles that appreciated the health and dietary benefits of wimberries; Native Americans, throughout America’s north west, including the Crow, Nez Perce and Yakama tribes, depended on plant foods such as berries and dried roots for winter survival, and gathered huckleberries especially to be dried and stored as a winter food when there was little or no fresh foods available. Serve it warm with thick cream or a good vanilla ice-cream - delicious. Then add 2 tbsp of sugar (I use caster sugar), close the bottle and shake well. Return the tart to the oven for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Shaun Hill makes the most of these elusive foraged berries in this beautiful breakfast.Shaun recommends using a rich-dough bread like brioche for an … Many of our … Add the apple and sugar mixture and cook for 5 minutes. Wimberries, or bilberries, are a close relative of blueberries but with a fuller flavour and deep red flesh. The combs are beneficial, but it does result in a lot of unwanted twigs and leaves which needs separating out later. Sorry, we weren't able to sign you up. Sorry, we weren't able to sign you up. We hand pick our wimberries when in season as they are rarely available commercially, freezing our berries where necessary to ensure freshness all year round. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy with a dollop of clotted cream, double cream or ice cream. Arrange the bay leaves on top. I am off winberry picking (something I have not done since I was a child) and would like to make either a pie or jam. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about new posts and articles. Roll out one half into a circle to line the pie dish. Wimberries are small dark mauve berries which grow in abundance in parts of the Pennines. The season for them is very short between August and September. ), but they are not actually blueberries. https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/recipe/bilberry-plate-pie Anyway, enough of the semantics…. Although there’s no denying that a crumble topping is the perfect thing to cover soft, seasonal fruit in, we also love this recipe as an addition to other recipes. Myself, I like it served both hot and cold without anything else, just bathed in its own juices – wimberry pie is a very juicy pie, and the pastry base does get quite soggy. Fill the pie dish with the cooled fruit mixture, weave the pastry strips onto the top of the pie filling to create a lattice and seal the edges by crimping together tightly. My memories of the wimberry stretch back to early childhood; we developed a family tradition of picking wimberries when on family holidays to visit relatives in Wales in late summer. Sorry, we weren't able to sign you up. There’s an element of ritual to wimberry picking. Take the apple quarters and slice thickly then add to the sugar and mix together. 36 Items Magazine subscription – save 32% and get a three-tier steamer worth £44.99 A crisp golden base is the foundation for many a good meal. Place the pie dish and strips into the fridge for 20 minutes. Roll out two thirds of the pastry and use for the base of the pie in a pie dish sized appropriately for your bounty. I just wasn't sure which recipe to use, since we deseeded the berries, but did not clarify the juice for a true jelly. It does get a bit confusing because the Swedes called wimberries ‘blueberries’ based on the direct translation of the word for them ‘Blåbär’ (which is presumably where the Scots get their word Blaeberry from, although I’m told that the Scots Gaelic word for blue is ‘blae’ – all very confusing! Since bilberries can be used in place of blueberries, any recipe that calls for cooked blueberries is a good option. I would love to taste wimberry tart/pie again - … De-stalk and wash the berries and place them in the pie dish. The very fact that wimberries are grown in isolated moorlands is a blessing for many reasons; the fact they’re isolated means they’re less likely to be picked by others, but it’s also a reason to go walking in some of the most beautiful parts of the British Isles. True to his word, he came in the next week with a small tub and presented me with my first wimberry – delicious, but unfortunately he’d not found a very large crop and the tub he brought in contained only a single, solitary wimberry – not enough to bake with! The berries, harvested in mid/late summer, aren’t dense croppers, and hence the fruit isn’t cultivated commercially, but fortunately the plant has a creeping rhizome that allows spreading, and it’s not uncommon to stumble across patches of wimberries the size of an acre or so. Basically blueberries either the high bush or low bush type. Please check your details, and try again. Some people serve it piping hot with lashings of cream, custard, Greek yoghurt or ice cream. Place the sugar into a large baking bowl. They are very juicy once cooked. It can be incredibly frustrating though to have walked several miles to your favourite picking spot only to find a team of professional pickers has been there before you, no doubt supplying the demand for wimberries for medicinal purposes and health food shops (usually sold under the northern English term for them: bilberries), as they contain a high content of anthocyanins, providing potent antioxidant activity. Add the bilberries and cook for a further 2 minutes. Bilberries can be eaten raw or cooked in much the same way as blueberries. Whinberry Pie re-lives memories for some and is a uniquely mouth watering experience for others. This recipe is about as simple as it gets. The introduction of blueberries to the British public in the past decade or two via the supermarkets has created the automatic assumption that they are one and the same, but they are different – the wimberry is a native plant to our Isles, but the blueberry isn’t. For wimberry pie, I’d recommend a shortcrust pastry. For me, there’s no better summer dessert that a locally sourced wimberry pie made with fresh wild berries. They seem to have died out in most parts of the country, bar Wales. Wimberry tart. ( my partner has never even heard of winberries and he's older than me! If you manage to find a decent patch of berries, and you’re able to bring the bounty down with you in plastic bags, rather than devoured on the spot by hungry pickers (that is half the fun, after all!)…. Many people prefer to use harvesting combs / berry scoops (known as ‘scrabblers’) to maximise results. For wimberry pie, I’d recommend a shortcrust pastry. Wimberries were also used as a common form of natural dye in years gone by; as any wimberry picker knows today, it’s almost impossible to pick wimberries without staining your hands as they’re a relatively soft fruit, although the inky dye is easy to remove after a couple of washes. I also blended a little low-fat milk with the natural yogurt to make the smoothie feel a bit lighter, since the spelt and oat brans make the consistency stickier. The raw fruits are a little acidic but when cooked with sugar become a delicious, deep-flavored fruit perfect for pies and for jams. Medicinal Uses . Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. They’re warm and sweet and they taste like the end of summer for me. It is around the first couple of weeks in August that wimberries or bilberries (Empetraceae) are ready for picking.These are wild berries found on moorland and mountains across a lot of Wales and uplands in England and Scotland. Take the apple quarters and slice thickly then add to the sugar and mix together. Well, we do all that and then, with our own traditional recipe, create a Whinberry Pie – ‘just like mother used to make.’ So, those purple fingers are ours…and that purple tongue is yours! Some people like to add some apple to the dish, and this does go really well with wimberries, so worth sampling! … then you need to decide what to make with them; it’s not just pies that wimberries can be used for – they’re used to make jams, tarts, syrups, syllabubs and muffins, and can be preserved by drying on their own or with sugar on a tray, either naturally in the sun or in a low oven. Sprinkle the pastry with ground almonds, then add the berries and bake for 15 minutes. I woke this morning to a beautiful sunny day and decided to make a winberry pie. However, having trawled through the internet I cannot find a single recipe. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry on a floured work surface using a rolling pin. If you'd like to get in touch please email us at. Tart recipes. I now think that the original recipe intends you to simply use only 2 cups of the juice (rather than reducing by boiling), as the very next line states “bring juice to a boil.” Most classic jelly recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of juice:sugar, so 2 cups juice to 2 cups sugar makes sense. Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking. Heat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas mark 4. Want a cookbook of our best dessert recipes? Roll out two thirds of the pastry and use for the base of the pie in a pie dish sized appropriately for your bounty. Mix the bilberries and sugar and tip into the tart case, then pour over the egg yolks and cream. Now that we live in Wales all year round, we have the opportunity to recreate these childhood memories on a regular basis, and my children, and our friends’ children, delight in wimberry picking expeditions. Put the pie in the bottom part of the oven for 15 min at 220°. butter (plus extra for greasing pie dish). Either way, the jelly/jam is cloudy and thick, but seedless, tart and sweet at the same time with a brilliant red color. The small berries that are produced in the wild have more flavour than cultivated large berries. In a mixing bowl, rub the butter into the flour, squashing it together to form a few clumps. She has to plan a menu for a three-course meal and help Mum or Dad to prepare and cook it. Bilberries are a delicious fruit found growing wild in the north and west of the British Isles on high ground. Meanwhile, make a custard by mixing the … Make the pastry via the following instructions or use a premade pastry. Make a blackberry crumble or a wimberry pie. Toss the bilberries, a splash of crème de myrtilles and the icing sugar together. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. One name used in recent years to describe it is the blueberry, but alas this is incorrect; although it is part of the same Vaccinium genus, and shares a similar colour on the outside, the wimberry is slightly smaller, has a fuller taste than the blueberry with a special edge of bitterness, and has a different internal colour – blueberry fruit pulp is a light green colour, whereas the wimberry is red and purple; hence why the blueberry doesn’t stain and the wimberry does! Put into an ovenproof dish. De-stalk and wash the berries and place them in the pie dish. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thickness. Put the berries into a bowl, sprinkle over half the sugar and mix. As wimberries are a northern European berry, grown in upland, moorland areas, then it might be a bit tricky to source fresh berries. Allow your tart to cool, then chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. 85 year old woman drying huckleberries in 1935 at Meadow Creek Forest Camp, near Sawtooth Mountain Berry Fields, Washington; a traditional huckleberry picking area for many northwest tribes, including the Yakama, located between four volcanoes. £1.60 Default Title - £1.60 They are tasty in everything from muffins to crumbles to tarts and cheesecakes. After 15 min reduce the heat to 180° and bake for 20-30 minutes. When ready, leave it to rest for 20 minutes so the fruit can set a bit. ~;-}) You can’t buy anything […]. Please check your details, and try again. They are all names from different parts of the British Isles to describe this tiny purple moorland berry – generally speaking the Welsh call them wimberries, the Irish call them fraughans, the English say bilberries and the Scottish use the word blaeberry, although there are many derivations of the word and regional differences. Add the apple and sugar mixture and cook for 5 minutes. The pie should be cooked for about 20 minutes in a medium oven (180ºC, Gas Mark 4, 350ºF or the baking oven in an Aga), or until it is a light brown colour. You're currently on page 1 Page 2 Next; Summer vegetable & pesto rose tart. Place the glistening, boozy bilberries on top of the tart. Roll out the remaining pastry into another circle large enough to cover the pie dish and cut into 2.5cm/ 1 " strips. Next Sunday, my daughter will be cooking for everyone as part of her termly homework. Wimberries were taken as a remedy for diarrhoea on the Hebrides, and believed to be good for general health and eyesight, and even rumoured to be beneficial to diabetes sufferers. Great news, we've signed you up. The name "bilberry" appears to have a Scandinavian origin, possibly from as early as 1577, being similar to the Danish word bølle for whortleberry with the addition of "berry". Bilberries are often mistaken for the blueberry, they look very similar but the bilberry is smaller and firmer, less juice when raw but released a lot when cooked.Bilberry Pie is a classic British pie loved throughout the North of England particularly in Yorkshire. Take a half-empty bottle of vodka or gin and add a couple of handfuls of clean, ripe Bilberries straight into the bottle. I apply a liberal amount as I have quite a sweet tooth! Please check your details, and try again. You could always substitute wimberries for blueberries, but they won’t quite have the same intense taste, and you certainly won’t get that mucky mouth! Herbs-Treat and Taste is about herbs and spices and their uses in medicine and cookery.We give recipes and information which enable people to have a healthier diet which can prevent certain illnesses and alleviate symptoms such as a cough, sore throat etc.There is information on different herbs,their history ,what other people think or thought about them and what we think. The wimberry is a distinctive fruit; its mauve/violet-coloured berries are found growing as low growing plants, no more than about 45cm tall (although some will grow taller if left ungrazed by sheep), and they’re not always easy to spot, as the berries can be hidden in the leaves. Since finishing uni for the year, I have found myself searching for ways to keep myself occupied. Leave to cool. In our family, the ritual associated with wimberry picking involved making a pie that same evening after picking, as just reward for all the back-breaking work picking them, and catching up with extended family and sharing stories. An insight into Cumbrian oak swill basketry, Farmer’s Racer – ‘It’s (all) in the bag’…, Gränsfors Bruk & the craft of axe-making. Options involve buying frozen wimberries (probably sold as ‘bilberries’), or buying from a local Polish store, as the Poles are extremely fond of these berries. Put the berries and sugar in a bowl together, mix, and let stand for 2 hours to let the juices run. Until fairly recently, there were plenty of recipes for winberries, particularly amongst country-folk, but with the growth of supermarkets and imported “proper” fruit, like many of the old staples, the blaeberry seems to have fallen out of favour – at least until now. Turn the oven down to 180°C/Fan 160°C. Bake for 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit tender. Etymology and common names. Our traditional Custard Tarts are a pastry consisting of an outer sweet pastry base filled with egg custard, sprinkled with nutmeg and baked. If you like, you can design a picture out of leftover pastry for the top of the pie. […] makes me sound like I’m in a Studio Ghibli film, but it’s fun. Has there ever been a fruit with as many different names: wimberry, whinberry, winberry, windberry, bilberry, fraughan, hurtleberry, whortleberry, blaeberry, black-heart and myrtle berry (after the wimberry’s Latin name Vaccinium myrtillus)? This crumble mix recipe serves 4 people and will take only 10 mins to make. butter (or a mixture of butter and lard), 25g./1 oz. In the USA, they are known as huckleberries, a derivation of the word hurtleberry, named by English settlers in the 17th Century. Subscribe to our occasional newsletters for the latest articles and updates. Once the pastry is rested divide into two. It always involved a decent hike up a mountain in the Brecon Beacons, as the wild berries are only found on hillsides and mountain slopes, amongst heathers and ferns, on acidic, peaty moorland soil, and then a carry home on the shoulders of older cousins or adults in the party. Strain the juices; set the strained berries aside.