Wednesday 7 July 2010

Maine Wild Blueberries

One more card from the swap with Erin... I'm rather fond of blueberries so I REALLY like this postcard. :)



Now if American wild blueberries are anything like the ones in Finland, they are vastly superior to the commmercially grown ones and taste totally different. I've only really eaten commercially grown blueberries in England (as nothing else is available here) as they are a bit tasteless and my parents' freezers have usually always been full of locally picked wild blueberries.

I tried to do a bit of research on blueberries but I only got more confused. :S If Wikipedia can be trusted here, it seems like the blueberries found in Finland might actually be bilberries. Or at least that's the impression I got from the description: "One characteristic of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush instead of clusters, as the blueberry does. The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of blue. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's is red or purple, heavily staining the fingers and lips of consumers eating the raw fruit. The red juice is used by European dentists to show children how to brush their teeth correctly, as any improperly brushed areas will be heavily stained." Yeah, that sounds familiar. I don't think they make a difference in Finnish, though; both are called 'mustikka'.

The rake on this postcard looks familiar, too, although the ones I've used in Finland have been a bit smaller, more like half the size of the one shown on this card. They're convenient and make picking quicker, but you do have to spend a while afterwards to sort leaves and other crap off the berries.

...and now I'm craving blueberry pie. :(

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