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Black crowberry
Black crowberry - Empetrum nigrum.
Black crowberry is a typical marsh xerophyte (a plant that is content with a very small amount of water) with spread out branched dark brown stems from 20 cm to 1 m long. The leaves are narrowly elliptical, loosely located on the stems, and their shape differs sharply from the leaves of other marsh plants. At first glance, they can be mistaken for needles: shiny, hard, small and thin with edges turned inward that stick out on the shoot in all directions. They are green in winter and summer. Unisexual small pink or dark red flowers with three petals sit in the axils of the leaves. The berries are black, shiny, watery. Crowberry blooms in the second half of May - early June, and bears fruit in August.
The fruit is a spherical, bluish-black, slightly acidic berry with purple juice and 6-9 seeds.
The plant is dioecious. Light-loving, but tolerates partial shade and shade. Prefers acidic, humus, loose, fairly moist sandy, gravel and peat soils. Does not tolerate stagnant water and soil compaction. Despite the fact that it loves moisture, it tolerates drought well. Frost-resistant (zone 2).
Black crowberry is a typical marsh xerophyte (a plant that is content with a very small amount of water) with spread out branched dark brown stems from 20 cm to 1 m long. The leaves are narrowly elliptical, loosely located on the stems, and their shape differs sharply from the leaves of other marsh plants. At first glance, they can be mistaken for needles: shiny, hard, small and thin with edges turned inward that stick out on the shoot in all directions. They are green in winter and summer. Unisexual small pink or dark red flowers with three petals sit in the axils of the leaves. The berries are black, shiny, watery. Crowberry blooms in the second half of May - early June, and bears fruit in August.
The fruit is a spherical, bluish-black, slightly acidic berry with purple juice and 6-9 seeds.
The plant is dioecious. Light-loving, but tolerates partial shade and shade. Prefers acidic, humus, loose, fairly moist sandy, gravel and peat soils. Does not tolerate stagnant water and soil compaction. Despite the fact that it loves moisture, it tolerates drought well. Frost-resistant (zone 2).
Location: grows slowly, light-loving. In many ways, black crowberry resembles lingonberry berries: it also grows in clumps. The shoots creeping along the ground form adventitious roots, so the clump gradually grows and occupies an increasingly larger area. And, like lingonberries, crowberry cannot do without symbiosis with mushrooms, which supply it with mineral elements and in return receive photosynthetic products.
Soil: prefers acidic sandy and peaty soils, does not tolerate compaction and stagnant water.
Planting: plants are planted at a distance of 30 - 50 cm from each other. Planting depth is 40 cm. The root collar is buried 2 cm into the soil. A soil mixture is prepared from turf soil, peat, and sand in equal volumes. Make drainage from crushed stone and sand with a layer of 10 cm.
Care: feed the plants once a season, adding 50 g of nitroammophoska per 1 m2. Mulch young plantings with peat in a layer of 5-6 cm.
It is quite winter-hardy, and no additional shelter is required, as it winters well under the snow. Pruning is careful, insignificant, consisting mainly of removing dry shoots. The plant requires weeding only in the first years of life. It then suppresses almost all weeds on its own. Only a few weeds emerge from under the thick shade formed by the creeping shoots of the crowberry, but they are not difficult to pluck. (You will even have to limit the spread of crowberry, which can crowd out neighboring cultivated plants). In dry weather, black crowberry definitely requires watering (but there is no need to create a swamp for it).
Reproduction: seeds and layering.
Use: as a ground cover plant in various garden compositions. You can try planting crowberries, like lingonberries, in a flat rock garden. You can also try it in combination with perennial flowers, for which the branched and spreading “herringbone” will serve as an excellent thick dark green background.
Black crowberry.
Frozen crowberry.
Berries picked in late autumn are ideal for freezing. The crowberry needs to be sorted out, poured onto a clean cloth, debris removed and frozen in bulk. The frozen product is placed in bags and stored in the freezer. In cold northern regions, frozen berries are poured into tubs and placed in barns or storerooms.
Pickled crowberry.
As in the case of freezing, late-harvested berries are also soaked. According to the classics, they are washed with spring water (or at least filtered). Clean berries are placed in thoroughly washed and prepared barrels (again, as a last resort, sterilized three-liter jars), filled with clean water and stored in a cold room.
Crowberry jam.
Since crowberry is not very tasty, jam is prepared with the addition of apples and sometimes walnuts. Boil crowberry in sugar syrup until almost done. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add the peeled and cored apples, cut into slices, lemon zest and cinnamon.
Crowberry - 1 kg, apples - 0.5 kg, sugar - 1.5-2 kg, lemon zest and cinnamon - to taste.
Crowberry compote.
Pre-cook the syrup. Place clean berries in it, bring to a boil and add citric acid at the end of cooking. This compote is most often drunk immediately, without closing it for future use, but you can also roll it up by pouring it into sterilized jars (it is recommended to pasteurize 0.5 liters for 10 minutes).
Water - 8 glasses, sugar - 80-100 g, crowberry - 500 g, citric acid - 1 g.
Grilled lamb with thyme and crowberry.
This is a classic Icelandic dish. Remove the bones from the lamb loin, cut off the veins and excess fat. Season the loin with salt and pepper, then grill it and season with dried arctic thyme and black crowberry powder. Serve with celery and kale.
Crowberry filling.
Grind the berries with a pestle, add blackcurrant jam. Instead of sugar, you can use chopped beets. The filling is great for any baked goods or pancakes.
Crowberry kvass.
Mash crowberry berries with a wooden pestle in a small tub, pour boiling water over them, add hop infusion and leave to ferment for 2-3 days. Then strain through a sieve and bottle. After 5-7 days, the kvass is ready.
For 10 liters of water: crowberry - 1 kg, honey - 2 glasses, dry hops - 1 handful.
Crowberry compote.
Take equal parts of cranberries, crowberries, currants, raspberries, dried apples and prunes. Wash the fruits, pour in 50% sugar syrup and cook until tender. Use within 24 hours.
Crowberry juice.
Mash the washed berries and squeeze the juice out of them. Immerse the pomace in boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain. Mix the broth with the squeezed juice, add sugar. To improve the taste, add citric acid. Leave for 10-12 hours. Serve cold.
Crowberry - 1 cup, water - 1 l, sugar - 0.5 cups, citric acid - to taste.
Crowberry jelly.
Rinse crowberry berries with cold water, place in a saucepan, add hot water and cook for 10-15 minutes. Drain the water and squeeze the berries. Add water to the resulting juice to a volume of 1 liter, bring to a boil, adding sugar or honey and starch diluted in cold water, stir without bringing to a boil, and pour into glasses. Sprinkle the surface of the jelly with powdered sugar. Serve chilled.
Crowberry - 2 cups, water, sugar or honey - 4 tbsp. l., starch - 50 g, powdered sugar - as needed.
Crowberry liqueur.
Bring the mixture to a boil, strain and let it brew for 7 days.
Vodka - 1 l, crowberry juice - 500 ml, sugar - 0.5 cups, cloves - 3 buds, vanilla sugar - 1 sachet.
Crowberry tincture.
Place clean berries in a jar and pour vodka so that it covers them completely. Infuse the mixture for 15-20 days, then strain and bottle. The tincture has a wonderful ruby color.
Tincture of crowberry with pine nuts.
Pour vodka over the berries and nuts and leave for 15-30 days.
Vodka - 1 l, crowberry - 2 glasses, pine nuts (unshelled) - 1 glass.
