Comments on: ‘Tis the Season to Pick Blueberries

By: Rianti Bieler

Rianti Bieler — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:04:47 +0000

I bump into your blog while researching what type of blueberries will grow in Sydney. My Norwegian husband is craving it and he wants to grow some in our (tiny) backyard. He was telling our 4yo daughter how, “Where pappa is from, in Norway, you can pick blueberries in the forest instead of paying $3 a punnet in the supermarket in Australia” *sigh*

You have a lovely blog And thank you for the fårikål recipe. Guess what would be a surprise Sunday dinner tomorrow!!

By: Shawn Rutledge

Shawn Rutledge — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:24:53 +0000

Don’t you think it’s bad for the bush to strip its leaves like that? Although in the woods around Oslo it’s amazing how many bushes already looked like that from July or so; I guess a lot of people are harvesting. Also I think from the pictures you are showing bilberries, which are blue all the way through; that’s what we have been finding in the forest, but there are lots of real blueberries in the stores so I thought they must be growing somewhere too.

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from L-Jay:

English speakers may call them ‘bilberries’ but Norwegians call them blue berries (blåbær) as with many other countries. Norwegians also call the English blue berries ‘blåbær’ as well. Norwegian blue berries have the same genus as cranberries and (the English named) blue berries – so closely related. Norway doesn’t naturally grow the English blue berries.

With regards to stripping the bush – there are a lot of careless people out there that are greedy. We have also seen bushes stripped clean of leaves from using combs. It is usual practice by the people who sell the berries at roadside stalls or markets – they are the culprits. But the people who pick berries for home use are usually the ones who take care of their favorite berry patches because they want to make sure it gives good yields every year. We use combs but we are careful and slow. We don’t strip the bush but take care to just get the berries. We also roatate patches on our farm so areas can re-seed.

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 00:45:02 +0000

On a recent stay in Oslo with family my favourite activity was picking kantarells and blueberries. We feasted on them thanks to my cousins wonderful cooking. Now back home I am craving and can’t wait to return. There is something very special about picking in the wild and soaking up the pristine surroundings of the forest.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:38:42 +0000

Thank you! I’ll head over to one right away. Also love your blog, been poking around a bit.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:12:23 +0000

What are the cleaning trays called in Norwegian? Rensebrett? And where could I buy one? I really think I need to get my hands on one. See, I’ve always hand picked blueberries, but decided to try the berry picker this year. Took me one hour to fill up a five liter bucket. Four hours to sort and clean them. My hands ended up with that lovely smurf tinge anyway.

But! Pancakes(!!!) with blueberries tomorrow!

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from L-Jay:

You can usually get them from Europris or Coop supermarkets (if you are in Norway).