Bilberries

This spring the hillsides turned lime green, the leaves on bilberry bushes when they first come out are bright green, if you painted a picture of it you wouldn't think it was an accurate portrayal...
A few months down the line and all those leaves have photosynthesised lots, and the bushes are covered with berries. We've always called them bilberries, but I think over the border in Scotland they're called Blaeberries, and from what I can tell they're related to Blueberries. I ate wild Blueberries when I was in America last year and they tasted and looked identical to what I know of as a Bilberry.

One of our regular dog walks takes us right past a big patch of Bilberry bushes so last week we took some boxes with us picked away. Even though we ate quite a few, and the dog did as well (she likes berries...) we filled our boxes very quickly. The stains on our fingers were quite spectacular, and lasted for a couple of days.



Well worth it though because the pie we made was rather yummy...