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LATIN NAME: Vaccinium myrtillus
FAMILY: Ericaceae
GENUS: Vaccinium
COMMON NAMES: bilberry, wimberry, whortleberry, European blueberry
ORIGIN: is native to Europe, northern Asia, Greenland, Iceland, Western Canada, and the Western United States
HABITAT: is wild on heathlands and acidic soils
BOTANICAL INFORMATION: Bilberry is a bush of 10-50 cm high. Leaves are alternate, ovate, almost sessile, spirally located, elliptical; the leaves on the top are acuminate. The plant has a creeping rhizome which gives a large number of shoots. It blooms in May. The flowers are greenish-white. The fruit is bluish-black or simply black. It can contain up to 40 seeds inside, but the average amount is usually about 20 seeds. Birds eat fruits and spread the seeds which are non-digestible in their stomach.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: The leaves of bilberry contain organic acids, essential oil, triterpenoids, alkaloids, vitamins C and B, phenol and its derivatives, phenol carboxylic acids, tannins, catechins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, manganese, iron, chromium, nickel, copper salts, etc.
The fruits of bilberry include carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose), organic acids (citric, lactic, oxalic, malic, succinic), vitamins C, PP, B, essential oil, polyphenols, tannins, flavonoids and anthocyanins.
RECIPES FROM BILBERRY
1. Pour 400 ml of boiling water over 2 tablespoons of powder from dried bilberry leaves and simmer for 20 minutes. Then strain and cool. Take 50 ml 4 times a day 10 minutes before meals.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of dried bilberry fruit to 500 ml of water, boil for 10 minutes, then steep for 20 minutes, strain. Use it for gargling.
3. Add 5 gr of ripe bilberries to 200 ml of boiling water, steep for being cooled, then strain. Take 2 tablespoons 3 times a day.
4. Bilberry tea: Pour 500 ml of cool water over 3 tablespoons of dried bilberries, bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, then strain.
5. Bilberry tincture: Put 350 gr of bilberries in the glass jar and pour 500 ml of vodka over the berries. Leave the jar in the cool, dry, dark place and infuse for 14 days shaking it every 2-3 days. After 2 weeks strain the tincture. The tincture must be bottled in small glass vessels.
“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet berries in a cup.”
Wendell Berry
*This article is for informational purposes only. We suggest consulting with a physician before using these or any other herbal supplements.
