• Cover of the catalogue "Rake for Blueberries: Going to blueberries!" - The Museum of Gorenjska
  • Blueberry jam, ready for sale at the tourist farm Pri Kovačniku on Pohorje - Archive of the family Štern
  • Pohorje gibanica (cake) with sweet blueberry sauce, as served on the tourist farm Pri Kovačniku in the Pohorje Mountainis - Maja Godina Golija
  • A blueberry liquor from the surroundings of Zreče - Maja Godina Golija
  • View of the Pohorje hills near the tourist farm Pri Kovačniku - Maja Godina Golija
  • A basket with freshly picked blueberries - Maja Godina Golija

Gathering and using blueberries

(borovnice - črnice)

The gathering of blueberries is an old human activity; in ethnology it is also called a foraging economy. With the formation of a village proletariat, the gathering of berries on common village property mainly became the domain of the less affluent; it was also a supplementary form of food acquisition. Up to the end of the nineteenth century, the gathering of blueberries was of importance only as a means of supplementing domestic nutrition, or as a way of obtaining food and medicine in the event of crop failure. With the development of towns, roads and railways in Slovenia, the commercial value of blueberry gathering increased. Before and after the Second World War, picking and selling blueberries became a supplementary form of economic activity in some village households, especially for women and children. Blueberries were sold at nearby outdoor markets or directly to affluent housewives. Village households on Pohorje did not usually consume large quantities of blueberries; they were used only as a supplement to certain dishes. The blueberry season in Slovenia lasted about a month. Because of that, blueberry picking was more controlled and sometimes a group of pickers was organized according to a certain hierarchy. During this time, the pickers often talked about the amount of money they expected to earn from the sale of blueberries. Sometimes pickers could even afford something they had long wished for, such as a bicycle or an old car, as mentioned by one informant in Svibno. Even after the Second World War, the money from the sale of blueberries was an important source of additional income, especially for women. Pickers of blueberries used – and still do so today – a simple device called kampl or smukač. Kampl is a wooden comb with long metal teeth. Often, farmers made these combs themselves. Some pickers preferred to carefully pick blueberries by hand, dropping them into metal dishes or baskets. These blueberries, which were firm, large and silvery blue, had to be dry and undamaged, so that they could be kept for a longer period of time and they were also more expensive. Before the Second World War, blueberries were picked and stored in simple containers made of curved alder or birch; after the war, pickers started to use baskets or metal pots. These also served as a measuring vessel and pickers could calculate the exact amount of money they would receive for the blueberries. People living in the countryside consumed blueberries on rare occasions. More often they used them to make brandy. Smaller quantities of blueberries were consumed during picking, or at home; most of the blueberries, however, were sold. Housewives from richer families possessed more knowledge and financial resources for the preparation and canning of blueberries. In the past, canning required large quantities of highly expensive sugar and a multitude of kitchen utensils; it was therefore accessible only to wealthy people. Urban housewives made jam and jelly from blueberries and stewed blueberries for sponge cake fillings. They used blueberries also to make juice. In poorer families, blueberries were consumed fresh or they added stewed blueberries to a corn omelette – tomerl. A farmer in the Pohorje Mountains also made a blueberry brandy. People dried blueberries as an important medicine, especially for stomach and digestive problems. During the last four decades, the importance of wild blueberries in nutrition has increased. Freezers have become widespread and with them the possibility of freezing the blueberries for winter and special occasions. Individual households, as well as restaurants, freeze blueberries and use them to make pastries, ice cream, fruit salads, shakes and fruit bowls. On the tourist farm Pri Kovačniku in the Pohorje Mountains, they like to offer their guests blueberry dishes and drinks: blueberry liqueur, Pohorje omelette with blueberries and cream, and sweet blueberry stew, which is served with the Pohorje gibanica (cake). According to Barbara Štern, when the demand for blueberries is high, they buy blueberries, also from the neighbouring farmers who gather blueberries for them in the forests, which are quite high up the Pohorje Mountains. In today’s lifestyle and economy of Slovenes, the gathering of blueberries has lost its former importance and has become a leisure-time activity. Due to the abundance of cars, this activity has become interesting for townspeople as well. One informant told me that in July, on Saturdays and Sundays, the forests close to her village are so crowded with townspeople picking blueberries that she finds no pleasure in going to the forest to pick blueberries for her family. The preparation of a number of dishes from blueberries has also become an important part of the gastronomic profile in the Slovene Alpine region, also in the Pohorje Mountains. Restaurants and tourist farms in the Pohorje Mountains offer guests and tourists some traditional products, such as sweet blueberry stew, jam and brandy, but also some more recent dishes and products, such as blueberry liquor – borovničke, the Pohorje omelette filled with blueberries and whipped cream, blueberry strudel, blueberry ice cream and ice cups, and blueberry cakes. In July 2018, tourism workers at the Pohorje Mountains also organized the first Blueberry Festival in the Maribor Pohorje.

HISTORICAL-ANALYTICAL NOTES

The gathering of different berries ranks among the oldest economic activities in the cultural development of mankind. For Alpine Slavs, the gathering of berries was a free economic activity available to all, but with the emergence of landholders it became controlled by manor owners. Berries were used for different purposes: mainly for food, but also to satisfy economic, medicinal or other needs. Back then, the most popular kinds of berries were blueberries. As a form of food acquisition among tribal people, the gathering of blueberries was of special importance and was carried out mainly by women and children. In the past, blueberries were mostly picked to be sold at nearby outdoor markets or to affluent housewives. They were also bought by some of the vendors. Village households did not usually consume large quantities of blueberries. Sometimes blueberry picking was more organized and the pickers, who worked in the forest in groups, were men. The group was organized according to a certain hierarchy, respected by all members. As reported in the studies of ethnologists (V. Novak, M. Makarovič, M. G. Golija, H. Rant), before the Second World War and after the Second World War, blueberries were picked especially by members of the rural proletariat, who in this way earned additional means of subsistence, for example, money to buy clothes, school supplies, shoes, etc. In the past, fresh blueberries were used in smaller quantities; they were more often dried, processed into brandy and marmalade. Blueberries were a highly valued home remedy, and some of them were dried and used for the treatment of stomach problems.

LEARNING AND TRANSMISSION

A rich oral tradition has been preserved regarding the gathering and using of blueberries in the Pohorje Mountains. The process of learning how to gather, preserve and can blueberries was and still is carried out only within families, and is passed on from older women, rarely men, to children. For picking blueberries, they used a simple device called kampl, a very old form of a wooden “comb” with teeth made of long metal spikes or nails, which is also a part of the material heritage in that region. A part of the intangible heritage of the Pohorje region is the knowledge of using blueberries in folk medicine, for instance for treating stomach pains, and the knowledge of making traditional blueberry brandy. 

COMMUNITY

The gathering and use of blueberries is an element of local identity in the Pohorje Mountains. It is part of the traditional and modern diet of the inhabitants of that region, which plays an exceptional role in the design and development of winter and summer tourism. Blueberries are an element of cultural heritage and local cuisine, which is often highlighted by people in this area as a part of their old tradition and local diet, and is offered to visitors. Blueberries and blueberry products are also part of the economic activities in the Pohorje Mountains, especially at tourist farms, where they often sell blueberry liquor and jam. The gathering and canning of blueberries is also linked to the contemporary catering industry in the area of the Pohorje Mountains. As a result of those activities, some local gastronomic products have developed: borovničevec or borovničke – a blueberry liquor; pohorska omleta – sponge cake with blueberries and cranberries; blueberry strudel, jam, sweet stew with blueberries, etc. Today, these products are successfully used in the tourism industry and in the promotion of the Pohorje Mountains; for instance, in July, people from the local catering industry organize the Blueberry Festival in the Maribor Pohorje. 

PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS

We did not record any organized acts of societies or political factors for the protection of blueberries. Some ethnologists, who studied gathering as a part of the traditional Slovenian economic activity, also wrote about the gathering and preparation of blueberries. Some catering schools close to the Pohorje Mountains tried to preserve the traditional recipes for preparing blueberries and started to develop new recipes for blueberry dishes. Awareness of the importance of using blueberries in the Pohorje diet is also promoted by the activities of the associations of rural women in the Pohorje Mountains, who organize courses and lectures. In the Pohorje Mountains, blueberries are often part of the local cuisine at tourist farms and are presented as an important part of the local catering industry. Interest in blueberry dishes is also promoted by the Blueberry Festival in the Maribor Pohorje in July.

PROTECTIVE MEASURES

No safeguarding measures are being implemented by Slovene institutions or ministries and there are no trademarks or indications connected with blueberries in Slovenia.

To learn more

Bibliography

  • Novak Vilko
    Slovenski etnograf - Vprašanje nabiralništva pri Slovencih
  • Makarovič Marija
    Kmečko gospodarstvo na Slovenskem
    Mladinska knjiga 1978
  • Godina Golija Maja
    Food from Nature: Attitudes, Strategies and Culinary Practices - Forest fruits and mushrooms in the food culture of Slovenes in the twentieth century
    The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy fro Swedisch F 2000
  • Rant Helena
    Grabljice za borovnice: Gremo po borovnice
    Gorenjski muzej 2011

Produced by

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Institute of Slovenian Ethnology - Miha Peče

Scientific Advisor

Godina Golija, Maja

Release Date

10-JUL-2019 (Miha Peče )

Last update

20-NOV-2019 (Špela Ledinek Lozej )

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