The image, above, shows the full Coweberry plant (Vacciniumvitis-idaea), showing its creeping habit and distinctive red
berries, left. Also shown are close-ups of the plant's flowers
(top right) and the plant's red berries (bottom right)..
| Common Name: Coweberry |
| Scientific Name: Vaccinium vitis-idaea |
| Other Names: Lingonberry, csejka berry, foxberry, quailberry, beaverberry, mountain cranberry, red whortleberry, bearberry, lowbush cranberry, cougarberry, mountain bilberry, partridgeberry and redberry |
| Family: Ericaceae |
| Range: Europe, including Britain, from Iceland south and east to the Pyrenees, Macedonia, N. Asia to Japan |
Physical Characteristics
Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a hardy evergreen shrub, growing to 30cm (1 ft) by 1m (3 ft 3 in) in size. It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. The plant flowers from May to June and its fruit ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by bees. The plant also self-fertilizes.
|
| Edible Parts: Fruit |
 Edibility Rating: 3 
|
 Known Hazards: None Known.
|
Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Cowberry along with all the Cowberry containing recipes presented on this site, with 0 recipes in total.
This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Cowberry as a major wild food ingredient.
The Coweberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea (also known as Lingonberry, csejka berry, foxberry, quailberry, beaverberry, mountain cranberry, red whortleberry, bearberry, lowbush cranberry, cougarberry, mountain bilberry, partridgeberry and redberry) is a a short evergreen shrub in the Ericaceae (heather) family native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. It bears red, edible, tart-flavoured fruit that are commonly collected from the wild in those regions where it grows abundantly.
In Britain it is a moorland or mountain plant and is often quite small and well hidden in grass or amongst heather. It is locally abundant in Britain on suitable habitats from South Wales and central England northwards. Most commonly it is found in upland regions of North-west Wales, Northern England and Scotland.
It is a close relative of bilberries and cranberries and in Scotland hybrids of cowberry and bilberry are sometimes encountered (Vaccinium × intermedium Ruthe). The plant is a dwarf evergreen shrub typically found on acid soils in sunny mountain meadows, peat moors and upland pine woods. The plant has creeping stems and erect shoots. It has larger leaves than bilberry and cranberry (resembling box leaves) [the stems are rounded in cross-section and grow from 10 to 40cm in height. Leaves grow alternately and are oval, 5–30mm long, with a slightly wavy margin, and sometimes with a notched tip.] and bell-shaped hermaphrodite pinkish-white flowers in June to August which develop into edible red fruit that ripen from August to October. Vaccinium vitis-idaea spreads by underground stems to form dense clonal colonies. Slender and brittle roots grow from the underground stems
The fruit are most commonly collected and can be eaten either raw or cooked. They have a pleasant tart flavour and are typically cooked like cranberries (though most people think they are superior to cranberries). Known as lingonberries, they are a future of Swedish cuisine and a drink is made of their juice and they are often turned into preserves. In Sweden and Russia, when sugar was still a luxury item, the berries were usually preserved simply by putting them whole into bottles of water. This was known as vattlingon (watered lingonberries); the procedure preserved them until next season. This was also a home remedy against scurvy. In Russia this preserve had been known as "lingonberry water" (брусничная вода) and is a traditional soft drink.
A tea is sometimes prepared by steeping the leaves in boiling water. It should be noted however that cowberry leaves contain the glycosylated hydroquinone, arbutin. Other glycosylated hydroquinones are caricnogenic agents (though so far there is no evidence supporting the carcinogenic effects of arbutin). Arbutin inhibits the generation of melanin and is used as a skin lightening agent.
The European subspecies of Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea var vitis-idaea L) has leaves approximately twice the size of those of the North American subspecies (Vaccinium vitis-idaea var minus Lodd).
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants
This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Cowberry as a major wild food ingredient.
The Coweberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea (also known as Lingonberry, csejka berry, foxberry, quailberry, beaverberry, mountain cranberry, red whortleberry, bearberry, lowbush cranberry, cougarberry, mountain bilberry, partridgeberry and redberry) is a a short evergreen shrub in the Ericaceae (heather) family native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. It bears red, edible, tart-flavoured fruit that are commonly collected from the wild in those regions where it grows abundantly.
In Britain it is a moorland or mountain plant and is often quite small and well hidden in grass or amongst heather. It is locally abundant in Britain on suitable habitats from South Wales and central England northwards. Most commonly it is found in upland regions of North-west Wales, Northern England and Scotland.
It is a close relative of bilberries and cranberries and in Scotland hybrids of cowberry and bilberry are sometimes encountered (Vaccinium × intermedium Ruthe). The plant is a dwarf evergreen shrub typically found on acid soils in sunny mountain meadows, peat moors and upland pine woods. The plant has creeping stems and erect shoots. It has larger leaves than bilberry and cranberry (resembling box leaves) [the stems are rounded in cross-section and grow from 10 to 40cm in height. Leaves grow alternately and are oval, 5–30mm long, with a slightly wavy margin, and sometimes with a notched tip.] and bell-shaped hermaphrodite pinkish-white flowers in June to August which develop into edible red fruit that ripen from August to October. Vaccinium vitis-idaea spreads by underground stems to form dense clonal colonies. Slender and brittle roots grow from the underground stems
The fruit are most commonly collected and can be eaten either raw or cooked. They have a pleasant tart flavour and are typically cooked like cranberries (though most people think they are superior to cranberries). Known as lingonberries, they are a future of Swedish cuisine and a drink is made of their juice and they are often turned into preserves. In Sweden and Russia, when sugar was still a luxury item, the berries were usually preserved simply by putting them whole into bottles of water. This was known as vattlingon (watered lingonberries); the procedure preserved them until next season. This was also a home remedy against scurvy. In Russia this preserve had been known as "lingonberry water" (брусничная вода) and is a traditional soft drink.
A tea is sometimes prepared by steeping the leaves in boiling water. It should be noted however that cowberry leaves contain the glycosylated hydroquinone, arbutin. Other glycosylated hydroquinones are caricnogenic agents (though so far there is no evidence supporting the carcinogenic effects of arbutin). Arbutin inhibits the generation of melanin and is used as a skin lightening agent.
The European subspecies of Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea var vitis-idaea L) has leaves approximately twice the size of those of the North American subspecies (Vaccinium vitis-idaea var minus Lodd).
References:
[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants
The alphabetical list of all Cowberry recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 0 recipes in total:
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Page 1 of 1