This berry has several names – whortleberry, bilberry, hurtleberry and cousins – saskatoons and huckleberry.
Many botanists believe a blueberry antecedent could be the most ancient living thing on earth, stepping up to the cereal bowl at the whopping 13,00 years old.
Primitive man was a hunter and a collector and one of the things they liked collecting were berries. Blueberries being chock full of antioxidants and nutrients, were a chief sources of nutrition for many ancient civilizations.
During the times of the Greeks and Romans, blueberry relatives were an important part of the daily diet.
The harvest time of blueberries since ancient times has been a time of celebration.
Blueberries were an important year round staple of the Indian in North America. Indian have gathered the fruit for centuries an still continues considerably to the harvest. It was them who introduced the practice of burning to control encroaching shrubs, trees and other unwanted ‘weeds’ and to kill the pests and diseases that invade the blueberry patches.
The Indians who lived on the sores of what is now called Lake Huron mixed powdered, dried berries with water, cornmeal and wild honey to make pudding, reported by observer and explorer in the early 17th century.
Early American folks used blueberries roots to relieve pain during childbirth. Blueberries are extremely high in antioxidants, used to support the immune system.
They also took the leaves from the blueberries bush to make a blood purifier that was good for kidneys, and extracted the blueberry juice to help the coughs and other respiratory condition.
Dried wild blueberries were added to soups stews and meat. Indian tribes shared dried berries with pilgrims to help them survive that harsh first winter in the new world.
Indians also taught the English settlers how to dry blueberries, and also how to use the indigo-blue skin and juice as a fabric dye and a spice rub to season meat.
Blueberries during ancient times
