jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (04/27/85)
I have a copy of "May Byron's Jams and Jellies," a cookbook devoted to all
kinds of preserved fruit. It was originally published in 1917, and Dover
re-published it in 1975. It contains some alternate fruit names that
I haven't seen anywhere else. My best guess is that they are old usages,
and not just Britishisms. The following are excerpts from the book:
"Bilberry, whortleberry, 'hurts', or whinberry, etc.
"Note.- This familiar frequenter of heathy places is little known as an article
of commerce. Where it grows, it is highly valued and never allowed to go to
waste. In certain parts of Surrey the village schools arrange their holidays
to coincide with the ripening of the 'hurts.' All through Southern England
the dark blue berries go by this name... So far as I can ascertain, they are
the same as the American huckleberry.
"There are various other kinds of whortleberry: the bog whortleberry, great
bilberry, or blaeberry; the red whortleberry, or cowberry; and the marsh
whortleberry, or cranberry."
Gooseberries:
"They were formerly known as feabes or feaberries."
Has anyone else ever seen or heard these names?
--
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak
{amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff
{ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeffmgh@hou5h.UUCP (Marcus Hand) (04/30/85)
>From: jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) >Message-ID: <323@rtech.ARPA> > >I have a copy of "May Byron's Jams and Jellies," a cookbook devoted to all >kinds of preserved fruit. It was originally published in 1917, and Dover >re-published it in 1975. It contains some alternate fruit names that >I haven't seen anywhere else. My best guess is that they are old usages, >and not just Britishisms. The following are excerpts from the book: > >"Bilberry, whortleberry, 'hurts', or whinberry, etc. > >"Note.- This familiar frequenter of heathy places is little known as an article >of commerce. Where it grows, it is highly valued and never allowed to go to >waste. In certain parts of Surrey the village schools arrange their holidays >to coincide with the ripening of the 'hurts.' All through Southern England >the dark blue berries go by this name... So far as I can ascertain, they are >the same as the American huckleberry. > >"There are various other kinds of whortleberry: the bog whortleberry, great >bilberry, or blaeberry; the red whortleberry, or cowberry; and the marsh >whortleberry, or cranberry." > >Gooseberries: > >"They were formerly known as feabes or feaberries." > >Has anyone else ever seen or heard these names? Oh yes! Bilberries, etc are simply regional names for the same fruit -- a kind of wild blueberry. The fruit is about a quarter of an inch in diameter when ripe and very dark blue with a kkind of lighter blue powdery appearance on the surface like grapes sometimes have. I can tell you it takes a long time to pick enough for just one tart -- and you get back ache because the bushes are only a foot or so high. But the results are well worth the effort. So, hurt (hurtleberry) is from surrey (SE England) eg Hurt Wood in mid Surrey, bilberry is from the midlands, whortleberry is the west country name (I think) blaeberry is the Scottish name. The genus is Vaccinium, I think, of which the N American blueberry is one or more species. -- Marcus Hand (hou5h!mgh)