blueberries thanksgiving Archives

Pie Time: Give Thanks to Berries This Week

Mince meat, apple, derby – they’ll all have their day. This holiday is made for berries – they emphasize the bounty of the fall harvest, provide a burst of color, and are perfect as part of a holiday that revolves around cuisine.

Of course, some Thanksgivings can resemble a game of pie poker with so many varieties anted up on the table. So why go all in with a berry pie? Plenty of reasons.

Taste. Tart, sweet, and savory pleases the palate after a meal. Warm from the oven, a berry pie provides a final flourish of intense flavor, and it’s less likely to weigh you down. Superb when solo, berry combinations are a pleasure as well – mixing tart with sweet by using cranberries with wild blueberries, for example, creates a unique taste sensation and grabs rave reviews at the table.

Health advantages. While healthy eating may not be at the forefront on Thanksgiving, berries, especially wild blueberries, are still antioxidant powerhouses. Just because it’s pie, doesn’t mean you aren’t getting the benefit of healthy, whole food in every forkful. And, calorically, most berry pies are on the light side. One slice of wild blueberry pie is approximately 360 calories. Pumpkin weighs in at about the same, while pecan pie is comes in at 503, says Slim Calm Sexy Diet author Keri Glassman.
Visual impact. Nothing pleases the eye like a dessert piled high with berries. A berry pie bubbling when it emerges from the oven, oozing its dark blue and red juices onto its golden crust, can make mouths water. You can achieve the perfect texture says Serious Eats by adjusting the cornstarch: less will yield a runny pie while more will provide a jammy texture.
Because it’s seasonally on target. It used to be some pie lovers stopped baking berry pies after the fresh season. Times sure have changed. Bakers know better today – waiting around for fresh is a thing of the past, and berry pies are served up in the best kitchens long after summer. Fresh frozen technology makes berries like wild blueberries superb for baking. Top chefs, bakers, and cooks routinely choose frozen for its convenience and baking ease as well as its frozen-at-peak taste and nutrition.

So start rolling your dough, and pour copious amounts of glorious berries into that crust. A search for the best berry pie is always fruitful. Here’s a taste to get you on your berry way.

Cloudy with a Chance of Berries

Amanda and Merrill over at Food52.com help you bake with confidence whether you are making a pie, a tart or clafoutis. Roll a pastry, hack a tart pan, and make it vegan if you choose. Then, try your hand at making this Lemon Cloud Winter Berry Tart – its blueberries float on a cloud. If you’re the unconventional type, this Very Odd But Delicious Pie is for you. It’s a blend of berries, including wild blueberries, pear, and apple, mingled with a shot of whiskey. Peculiar just might be the new delicious.

Berry Serious

We commend Serious Eats for touting frozen berries! They’re a winter blessing in this Mixed Berry Pie, and in this Classic Blueberry Pie, in which lemon zest works to bring out the tangy brightness of the blueberries – wonderful. Remember to go “wild” with your blues for optimum taste, nutrition and more berries per bite.

You can also head over to atendercrumb.com to delight in the wonders of dessert. This Double Crusted Blueberry Pie provides culinary rescue to pie monotony, paired here with vanilla bean ice cream.

Traditional, Not Conventional

Call it cranberry-blueberry or blueberry-cranberry – these two berries are perfect harmony inside a crust. This Cranberry and Wild Blueberry Pie is a paradigm of palatability. Must have pumpkin pie? Understood. We think this Pumpkin Blueberry Pie has great flavor potential.

Crust Conversion

Mix it up in the crust department this year. Start with Martha’s pie crust 101. Then, put your mad skills to work with in Deep Dish Mixed Berry Pie or go rectilinear with Blueberry Slab Pie to win high appraisals for unique geometry.

Or, forget the share tactics and choose individual pies to make every guest feel special. Remember frozen always substitutes for fresh – no compromising on flavor or nutrition necessary.

Oh, Yeah – The Ultimate Berry Pie

Six colorful cups of wild blueberries make this Wild Blueberry Pie the ultimate in flavor, health, and visual impact. Bake, slice and serve, and bask in the sweetness of blue – the perfect ending to the perfect culinary day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wild Blueberries Complete a Colorful Table

5 Super Sides for the Fall Season

Wild blueberries have surged in popularity in dishes, sauces, and sides and as substitutes for traditional ingredients in classic recipes. Intense nutrition? Sure – but they also have an exceptional taste that pairs with proteins and shines in sweets.

When plating that’s pleasing to the eye is a central concern, wild blues provide a pop of color. Of course, wild blueberries are a seasonless go-to ingredient in pies, but fall gatherings are a perfect time to think outside the crust. If your goal is nutrition, flavor, and appearance in equal measure, side dishes that feature wild blueberries can turn a hum-drum nosh into a spectacular repast.

As part of your quest for wildly delicious sides, remember that frozen suits almost every recipe just as well as fresh – the substitution is one to one. Keep frozen wild blueberries frozen for cooking – no need to thaw – and make sure your blues are wild for maximum flavor, nutrition, and fruit-to-bite ratio (thanks to their smaller size). You can also substitute wild blueberries for cranberries in many holiday recipes, or swap half the cranberries for wild blueberries for a sweet and tart combination.

Ready for a fabulous feast? Here are five wild blueberry sides that will put your table on trend. (Careful, they might steal the show.)

1. Blueberry-Cranberry Sauce: A Neo-Classic

While wild blueberries outperform them when it comes to measuring both antioxidant capacity and cellular antioxidant activity, cranberries pack their own health punch. Together, these two vibrant berries score big in taste and nutrition. The zing of cranberry complemented by the unique sweet-savory flavor of wild blues is the perfect twist on an essential holiday side dish.

This Cranberry Sauce recipe readily suggests blueberry and pecan additions to the classic compote. The Examiner has a cran-blueberry take on this beloved side, and Allrecipes.com offers up a ramekin-ready take on Blue Cranberry Sauce.

2. Stuffing with Wild Blueberries: Sweet Surprise

Stuffing that includes wild blues? You bet. A touch-of-tart filling for a succulent bird provides a pop of color and the element of surprise. It’s on every foodie’s fall table this season. Consider what berries and currants do for a savory stuffing, and you’ll know why wild blueberries will work wonders in your own classic recipe – use 1 cup to 1 pound as a fruit-to-bread guideline.

If cornbread stuffing is a favorite, this Blueberry Cornbread Stuffing, originally from our own WildBlueberries.com, is a festive twist on the traditional. Cookingnook.com recommends fruit (wild blues, for example) to take this Best Turkey Stuffing to the next level, and Martha Stewart’s stuffing recipes, like Cornbread & Pumpkin Challah Stuffing and Bread Stuffing with Sage, encourage embellishments such as dried blueberries.

3. Wild Blueberry Stuffed Squash: A Visual Feast

This new table tradition is trending. Why? Because squash and sweet blues make a superb pair, and a halved acorn or butternut filled to the brim with berries is stunning to serve to guests. Acorn Squash Stuffed with Blueberries from Epicurious.com is right on the nose – you’ll find many recipes that riff off of this foundation. Others use rice or quinoa to stuff, and encourage berry additions.

4. Wild Blueberry (Turkey) Sauce: The Perfect Profile

It’s as if wild blueberries were made to pair with turkey. Entrees like turkey, chicken, duck and lamb achieve a sweet flavor balance with wild blues. Unlike the stand-alone sauce above, these sauces are meant for pouring, drizzling, and highlighting the main attraction, and their variations harmonize exquisitely.

Lay claim to this Wild Blueberry Grape Sauce, for instance, if you are looking for a colorful drizzle to liven up your platter. EatingWell.com uses thyme to complete the flavor profile on this Turkey with Blueberry Pan Sauce, and Wild Blueberry Chutney does similar work as a festive topping, be it breast, leg, or wing (or turkey sandwiches).

5. Wild Blueberry Bread: Beat the Beige

Bread completes any homemade meal, and with a scattering of sweet blue berries, it can do double duty by beating a holiday meal’s beige blues. With so many options, it would be a shame to miss the opportunity for some wild baking this season.

Raise the roof with this Quinoa Blueberry, Cheddar, & Caraway Rye Cornbread from Yummly, try Paula Deen’s Sweet Blueberry Cornbread, or this Blueberry Zucchini Bread, either for meals or morning afters. Taste of Home keeps the flavor refreshing with Blueberry Orange Bread, or take a left turn and go for Blueberry Bread Pudding from Food & Wine. Enjoy!

Want More Blue? Learn Why Wild Blueberries Should be Part of Your Thanksgiving, and get your 10 Most Popular Questions About Cooking with Frozen Wild Blueberries answered at FAQ Blue.

Why Wild Blueberries Should Be Part of Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Beat the Beige, Give Turkey Its Tang & Give Thanks for Wild Blues

by tibchris

You may think harvest season marks the one time of year when wild blueberries truly get their due. But if your idea of wild blues is stuck in August, it’s time to change your thinking: November is the wild blueberry’s heyday.

With homemade food in the spotlight and new recipes to impress the family on the radar, wild blueberries steal the show at a Thanksgiving spread. Maybe it’s because they are one of few blue foods that appear in nature. Or maybe it’s because they make everything a little more fun. Bring wild blueberries to dinner and you’ll put a smile on your host’s face, and you’ll be a hit at the kids’ table as well. When all the gobbling is over and the tryptophan kicks in, you’ll be thankful you did. Here’s why:

Taste. There’s nothing comparable to the sweet-sour-spicy taste of wild blueberries. They work well with just about any Thanksgiving dish and provide the ideal yin to the generous yang that makes up the usual Thanksgiving suspects like turkey, tubers, and stuffing.

Tradition. The best Thanksgiving dish puts a subtle twist on tradition, and wild blueberries fit the bill. Indigenous to Maine and eastern Canada, their presence provides a nod to native American foods. In fact, there are only three native North American fruits – Concord grapes, wild blueberries and cranberries – so you’d be remiss to leave out this essential berry.

Ease of cooking. Wild blueberries are a busy cook’s dream. They are smaller and more compact than their cultivated counterparts, and that helps them hold their shape for whatever you put them through. And, thanks to IQF, freezing preserves their individuality (not to mention their nutrition). They are great for baking, boiling for sauces, they work cold and warm, and they garnish as well as they cook.

Health benefits. Total indulgence is so yesterday. Today, there’s a trend toward maintaining healthy eating so even during the holidays your nutrition doesn’t go to pot. That’s where wild blueberries excel. High in antioxidants, low in calories, and high in fiber, they satisfy the palate and nourish the body while still tasting like an indulgence.

Color. Seeking out colorful foods for Thanksgiving is a must. Because of the abundance of earth tones as a result of turkey, potato, stuffing, onions and other foods that are on the beige part of the spectrum, a spark of color is crucial to bring a Thanksgiving plate to life. Enter wild blueberries, a rare opportunity to add high-octane color to a piled-high platter.

Cranberries optional. If some members of your clan don’t care for the traditional cranberry sauce, wild blueberries save the day. Their flavor is a unique brand of sweet due to a wonderful natural flavor variation that is a result of a combination of several different varieties of plant that create this indigenous crop. Or keep the cranberries – they pair extremely well with blues, enhancing the taste of both in pies, sauce, and stuffing.

Cost. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, Thanksgiving dinner will be 13% more expensive this year than it was last year. The price of turkey alone is up .25/lb. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd, keeping costs down is key. The best advice? Think big. Buying ingredients in bulk helps, and oversize bags of frozen blues are economical and never go bad if they are unused. Avoiding pre-packaging is another way to stretch the food budget, and wild blueberries are a perfect unprocessed ingredient – it’s a frugal gourmet’s dream.

Plan Your Holiday Menu! How Will You Use Your Blues?

Cranberries and blueberries make a stellar taste combination. Impress the fam with this Cranberry and Wild Blueberry Pie. Or mix it up with lip-smacking Blue Cranberry Sauce, or some Homemade Cranberry Blueberry Sauce.

Looking for a Cranberry Sauce alternative? This Szechwan Crispy Duck with Chinese Wild Blueberry sauce creates a fantastic flavor profile. Using turkey instead of duck works equally well to show off these two tastes. Or make this very scoopable Wild Blueberry Salsa. Even Betty Crocker recommends adding cherries and blueberries to their Cranberry Stuffing recipe to vary the taste.

Done with traditional pie? Think outside of the circle – Wild Blueberry Grunt is a fun alternative to pumpkin pie, or you can impress the relatives with your culinary know-how by making Wild Blueberry Crème Brûlé.

Finally, if you’re looking for a meal opener or a great bring-with hors d’oeuvre, you’re covered with
Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Onions and Wild Blueberries – delicious and perfectly portable.