Insider Scoop! Local Author Lisa Turner Shares Her Blueberry Buckle Recipe (And More!)

Wild About Health has traveled up and down the Maine coast recently, getting footage of local wild blueberry barrens and just enjoying the nooks and crannies of coastal and Down East Maine. In doing so, we’ve noticed a common thread when it comes to thinking about, talking about, and eating food. 

What we’ve noticed is the true appreciation that is constantly expressed about the availability of fresh, farm raised, organic food found in increasing numbers at small farms, farmer’s markets, and cooperatives.

We’ve heard about and visited farmers markets, restaurants serving organic foods, and small farms that raise pigs and chickens for local consumption. We’ve heard gratitude for the luck of geography that results in local availability of fresh foods, and we’ve heard appreciation for the interest local blueberry companies like Wyman’s and Allen’s bring to the Down East region of the state as well as for the fresh fruits and vegetables that smaller, lesser-known land-owners offer residents.

In Maine, there is simply a wealth of opportunity if you are trying to start a local food plan for your household. For those thinking about health, it’s a boon, and for those seeking ways to help local economies, it’s a no-brainer.

Author Lisa Turner

Putting Local Food to Good Use

Often, the foods we encounter locally are not as common as our grocery store fare, and it helps to know how to find and put local foods to use. That’s the mission of Lisa Turner in her book Eat Local, published by Down East Books. She has collected over one hundred recipes from Maine’s top chefs, farmers, home cooks, from her own kitchen like the Blueberry Buckle she was kind enough to share with us (below) that originated from her mother-in-law.

Turner is the owner of Laughing Stock Farm located in Freeport, and has an appreciation for the value of foods grown close to home. In fact, we mentioned her interest in keeping it local in a previous post.

As she explained to Wild About Health, when you take local foods home and prepare them, “you’re thinking about what goes into the pot and then onto the plate and into your stomach.”  It means no fillers and no additives — just real food that’s going to be better for you. “Think about the ingredient list on packaged food, and then look at the ingredient lists in most of my recipes,” says Turner. “It’s worlds apart.”

Blueberry Buckle 
from Eat Local

Turner says,”This is a nice, light blueberry cake with a crumb topping, and is one of my husband’s favorites as it is his mother, Lolly’s, specialty.  You can also serve this as a coffee cake at breakfast.”