Product Description
Wild blueberries – eat them fresh, drink their juice or sweeten your morning with a preserve made from this wild fruit naturally rich in antioxidants and vitamins. To be offered blueberry juice or preserve upon visiting a rural household is an integral part of northern hospitality.
It is a fruit of a short plant that grows all over the upland regions of northern Montenegro. In the autumn, when blueberry leaves turn red, one can see that they create expansive mats in the midst of the upland pastures. Their fruits are collected by local population straight from the wild, in months of July and August. Part of the picked blueberries are used for their own purposes to make juice or preserve, part is sold fresh on local markets or to supermarkets and distributors, making this a significant source of extra income for the rural households. So one can say that apart from the traditional and health benefits, wild blueberries have an economic value for the local population, and as such are subject to some protective measures.
The significance of this plant is best illustrated by the fact that in the municipality of Plav there is a festival dedicated to this fruit, called The days of the blueberry. It is organised for several days at the end of July/beginning of August, and its program includes competitions in blueberry picking, preparation of blueberry products, folkloric dances, arts and crafts workshops and displays, literary and painting colonies and exhibitions and similar events, all of which gathers thousands of people and boosts local tourism.
Blueberries have a pleasant, sour-sweet and slightly bitter taste. Their flesh is dark in colour and very juicy.
For making blueberry juice, the freshly picked fruits are washed, strained, placed in a large dish, mashed and strained. Lemon acid and sugar are added as preservatives. After that, the juice is bottled, sealed and stored in a cool dark place until use.
Preserve is made when fresh fruits are put in a pot with an equal amount of sugar, and then slowly brought to the boil until the syrup forms. Lemon is also added as a preservative, and the finished product stored in jars.
