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on a whim bought a packet of these,looks like nightshade,but says NOT poisonous on the packet!

says for pies,jams and wine,

has anyone grown them? more importantly do they make good wine :P/shades x

I grew them last year and probably will this year too.

I liked the taste in pies - similar to blueberries, but much more tart. Didn't produce enough berries to even think about jam, although they might be nice added to another fruit jam. Birds seemed to leave them alone, which is good.

Don't know anything about wine. They're pretty acid tasting and very little sugar - would you make wine out of bilberris or cranberries?

:)

thanks for replying,

how many plants did you grow to get enough for a pie?

googled for a wine recipe /shades x

I grew them for a couple of years, and made jam with them. I did not think that the jam made with Huckleberries was interesting. Nothing like as good as the jam that I make from the usual soft fruits. It is very bland with very little natural fruit acid in it, even though the recipe, provided by the seed company, had a lot of lemons added.

My old neighbour and i have grown these for about 4 years. 
They tend to self seed and are very good at it!!
By choice, i don't suppose i would buy them, they are a little bitter and not ready here in the south at least until October or November.
They make the most beautiful colour when cooking, rather similar to Quink ink, deep inky blue, they especially great for jellies but need loads of lemons, they don't have a high pectin content.
Normally grown in north America and i believe the indians use them dried.

Quote from: angle shades on January 05, 2007, 18:08:26
how many plants did you grow to get enough for a pie?

About six or eight plants; pretty much left to look after themselves all summer. The pies were Apple & Huckleberry rather than just berries; still enough to give the kids blue tongues and fingers. I'll probably use them for ice cream this year; think that would work quite well.

You should remember picking enough bilberries to make Bilberry wine a long time ago though. We grew huckleberries at the Brow and did not like the taste then at all.

:)

thanks for replying, I seem to have this growing on my plot anyway, but it might be nightshade :-\

the ice cream option looks good / shades x

I've grown them a lot. Good for all the above but especially good if you boil them for about ten minutes with some sugar then let them cool and add to natural yoghurt.