The image, above, shows the full Crowberry plant (Empetrumnigrum), left, with maturing seeds. The top, centre, image
shows the flower heads and the top, right, image shows the
maturing seed heads. Bottom right, the edible leaves and leaf
petioles (stems) are shown..
| Common Name: Crowberry |
| Scientific Name: Empetrum nigrum |
| Other Names: Curlew Berry, Crakeberry and Black Crowberry |
| Family: Empetraceae |
| Range: Europe, including Britain, Iceland to the Pyrenees, east to Siberia and Bulgaria and also N. America |
Physical Characteristics
Empetrum nigrum is a hardy evergreen shrub, growing to 30cm (1 ft) by 50cm (1 ft 8 in) in size. It is hardy to zone 3 and is not frost tender. The plant flowers from May to June and the fruit ripen in September. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female and only a single sex can be found on one plant) and are pollinated by bees, flies and lepidoptera.
|
| Edible Parts: Fruit |
 Edibility Rating: 3 
|
 Known Hazards: None Known.
|
Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Crowberry along with all the Crowberry 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 Crowberry as a major wild food ingredient.
Crowberry, Empetrum nigrum, (also known as Curlew Berry, Crakeberry and Black Crowberry) is a dwarf, creeping evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves with rolled-back edges that is a member of the Ericaceae (heather) family of flowering plants. Indeed, Crowberry is superficially heather like.
Crowberries have separate male and female plants and though the female flowers will develop into fruit without fertilization the seeds will be sterile. Flower morphology indicate that crowberries are can be wind-pollinated, though they are also pollinated by bees and beetles. The plants are mat-forming evergreen shrubs, growing to some 30cm tall by 50cm in diameter. They are very hardy plants and are in leaf almost all year round. They flower from May to June and the blue-black berries develop immediately after flowering.
They are native to Europe (including Britain) from Iceland south to the Pyrenees and east to Siberia. They are also found in North America and are particularly common in Alaska. There are actually two subspecies of Empetrum nigrum. Empetrum nigrum ssp. nigrum which has unisexual flowers and is by far the commonest species in Britain, which is widespread in suitable habitat north west of a line from Devon to north east Yorkshire up to 800m altitude. The second subspecies, Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum has bisexual flowers and is more common in Scotland. Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum is also the most common species in Iceland, which might account for why Icelandic Crowberry has a reputation for being more flavoursome than the fruit found elsewhere in Europe.
The typical habitat includes moorlands, tundra and muskeg, but they also like spruce woodland. They are also found abundantly on the dune slacks and sand dunes of the Danish Island of Fanø as well as all over Iceland. Like other ericaceous plants they prefer acidic, peaty, soils.
The blue-black fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. They are often described as being rather insipid in flavour and watery in texture. It is said that they taste better after a frost. They can be made into jams and jellies, sauces and preserves of all type. Though typically they are used as a 'filler' fruit in conjunction with other berries and wild fruit.
Only in regions where there are few other fruit (such as Alaska, Iceland and Siberia) are they prized. Occasionally a tea is made from the leaves and stems. In Alaska, crowberry leaves and stems are mixed with black tea and spruce tips to make a blended tea.
[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 Crowberry as a major wild food ingredient.
Crowberry, Empetrum nigrum, (also known as Curlew Berry, Crakeberry and Black Crowberry) is a dwarf, creeping evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves with rolled-back edges that is a member of the Ericaceae (heather) family of flowering plants. Indeed, Crowberry is superficially heather like.
Crowberries have separate male and female plants and though the female flowers will develop into fruit without fertilization the seeds will be sterile. Flower morphology indicate that crowberries are can be wind-pollinated, though they are also pollinated by bees and beetles. The plants are mat-forming evergreen shrubs, growing to some 30cm tall by 50cm in diameter. They are very hardy plants and are in leaf almost all year round. They flower from May to June and the blue-black berries develop immediately after flowering.
They are native to Europe (including Britain) from Iceland south to the Pyrenees and east to Siberia. They are also found in North America and are particularly common in Alaska. There are actually two subspecies of Empetrum nigrum. Empetrum nigrum ssp. nigrum which has unisexual flowers and is by far the commonest species in Britain, which is widespread in suitable habitat north west of a line from Devon to north east Yorkshire up to 800m altitude. The second subspecies, Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum has bisexual flowers and is more common in Scotland. Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum is also the most common species in Iceland, which might account for why Icelandic Crowberry has a reputation for being more flavoursome than the fruit found elsewhere in Europe.
The typical habitat includes moorlands, tundra and muskeg, but they also like spruce woodland. They are also found abundantly on the dune slacks and sand dunes of the Danish Island of Fanø as well as all over Iceland. Like other ericaceous plants they prefer acidic, peaty, soils.
The blue-black fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. They are often described as being rather insipid in flavour and watery in texture. It is said that they taste better after a frost. They can be made into jams and jellies, sauces and preserves of all type. Though typically they are used as a 'filler' fruit in conjunction with other berries and wild fruit.
Only in regions where there are few other fruit (such as Alaska, Iceland and Siberia) are they prized. Occasionally a tea is made from the leaves and stems. In Alaska, crowberry leaves and stems are mixed with black tea and spruce tips to make a blended tea.
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 Crowberry 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