foraging in the hedgerows.

[adamgreen]

Hi my 1st post..

Well today ive been out and about collecting berries from the highway and byways around where i live, i managed to nearly fill a 5ltr bucke with blackberries, [image

However i came across a few bushes loaded with berries that i though might be blueberries? i took a twig home to try and identify, any hel on this one would be great many thanks.

[image

-- adamgreen

[raeannsimpson]

Looks more like bilberry to me. The bilberry leaves have teeth to the edges, whereas blueberry leaves don't, or at least the blueberry leaves I am familiar with have smooth edging to them anyway.

I'm sure you can google bilberry or even wikipedia it for a comparison.

[Pat Kiewicz]

scar you'd see with a Vaccinium sp. fruit.

It looks like it could be some species of buckthorn, though the leaves seem a little toothier than I'd expect. You definitely wouldn't want to eat them if it were (strong laxative). I do notice a typical buckthorn 'thorn' just above the topmost berry.

[adamgreen]

Speaking to a local today told me they are sloe berries and can be use

for making gin

-- adamgreen

[rossr35253]

Just a slight correction. Sloe berries are not used for "making" gin. They are used in the production of sloe gin which is a deep red coloured liqueur made by infusing gin with sloe berries and sugar, similar to the method of making rumtopf with fruit, sugar and rum.

Ross (who likes his gin infused with a little tonic water)