The Harvest is Months Away, But Growers Are Thinking Blue
Each year when winter is slowly replaced by high sun and rising temperatures, our thoughts naturally turn to planting. It means spring is on the way, and the time for taking advantage of the earth’s bounties is close at hand.
In Maine, Quebec and Eastern Canada, wild blueberry barrens are stirring. In early spring, plants begin to emerge from snow cover, and before too long, green leaves and white blossoms of fruit will appear. It’s a time when those who farm wild blueberry fields begin planning for late summer when they will finally burst with blue fruit.
Late winter on the wild blueberry barrens in Maine’s Washington County.
Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Leighton.
This year, wild blueberry plants have endured another harsh winter, but that’s part of their wild nature: they are naturally resilient to challenging winters in the Northeast. They have evolved to grow in acidic soil, thrive through wildly changing temperatures, and use their natural UV protection to survive unshielded in summer sun. In fact, these environmental challenges make them uniquely powerful when it comes to the phytonutrients they produce to protect themselves. Scientists believe that resilience may translate into superb disease prevention and aging protection when we eat them – that’s the unique power of wild.
Wild berries naturally have a distinctive taste and variations in color that their larger cultivated counterparts simply can’t match. In fact, winters with abundant snowfall are good for the crop. Snow provides protection to the plant as well as plenty of moisture, which can increase the size of the bud and the potential to have more fruit per plant. More fruit means more healthy, antioxidant-rich berries.
During March and April, growers spend their time assessing crop damage and pests in the field. They may order supplies necessary for the harvest season and to prepare fields that are “fallow” – non-crop bearing fields that are resting as part of their two-year rotation – and continue the mowing and burning of fields that would have begun in the fall. They may also prepare to bring in bees to pollinate the plants when spring is in full swing. Bringing bees to the fields is a necessary part of production, and every year wild blueberry growers import a billion bees to help pollinate their barrens. (You can read about spring bee pollination in this week’s Portland Press Herald). It’s all in service to the millions of pounds of wild blues that will be harvested in the growing areas in July and August.
But while it’s still early, and the fields are quiet and snow-covered, there’s time to reflect on the many things wild blueberries offer the area – not to mention kitchens and freezers all over the country. And it’s a perfect time to tip our hat to the growers who carefully manage and nurture them, right here in harvest country, all year long.
We have nature to thank for the wild blueberry. Wild, lowbush berries are naturally occurring berries that have been growing in Maine, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces for over 10,000 years. They differ from cultivated or planted blueberries – you can identify cultivated by their larger size – that are propagated, planted and harvested in commercial operations throughout the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Wild blueberries spread naturally and slowly here, where they survive in the glacial soils and northern climate, and those natural challenges only makes them special. Here are some of the unique advantages of the smaller, wild berry that is only grown in areas of the Northeast:
Antioxidant capacity. Wild Blueberries are being studied for their powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may help protect against diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Genetic diversity. Wilds consist of hundreds of different naturally occurring varietal clones – a mix that provides the intense, complex flavors that range from sweet to tart.
Smaller size means higher skin-to-pulp ratio. Because of their size, foods that contain wild blueberries have more berries in every bite. That translates to more taste, more nutrition and more antioxidants.
Wild blueberries are a cherished part of Maine and Canada – and their wild nature is why.
See Wild Blueberry Country First Hand! It’s your last chance – there are only a few days left to enter to win Five Days of Food and Fun in the Land of Wild Blueberries.
If your entry is chosen, you’ll receive transportation for two to Québec City, Canada, 4 nights lodging in the historic Château Frontenac, and a $1,000 Wild Taste dining allowance to experience the city’s culinary delights.
Got a taste for something sweet, flaky, and not so big that it will spoil both dinner and breakfast the next day? The Hartford Courant’s Linda Giuca has the right idea. Over at the Courant, they are just close enough to the heart of wild blueberry country (Maine, Quebec and Eastern Canada) to know what hits the spot when it comes to a quick dessert. Easy Blueberry Turnovers are warm and fruity, sure. But do they also integrate one of the most nutritious antioxidant-packed superfruits you can put on your plate? You bet they do. And Guica makes one of the most delicious pitches for the convenience and taste of frozen we’ve heard…well, at least all day! Says Guica:
“These mini-turnovers also used another item from the freezer – local blueberries from last summer’s pick-your-own trip. If you didn’t make a picking excursion, the tiny wild blueberries from Maine, available in the frozen foods section of most supermarkets, make a good substitute.”
A good substitute indeed. If you know frozen, you know frozen wild blues are actually a preferred alternative for chefs and bakers. In fact, not long ago, we answered some of your most asked questions about wild blueberries when it comes to using them as an ingredient in everything from muffins to entrées. Here’s one of our updated favorites from the archive if you need convincing:
Do frozen wild blueberries work in a recipe that calls for fresh? Yes. Frozen wilds are ideal for recipes in just about every instance. Allison Fishman, author of You Can Trust a Skinny Cook, says using frozen is her ideal method for cooking, mostly because “it’s they best way to get the whole berry.” She also likes the cost savings of frozen, and uses frozen wild blueberries in all of her recipes that call for blueberries, with rare exception. In fact, many respected chefs have revealed their passion for wild blueberries and why they consider them a culinary star. The IQF or “frozen fresh” method makes making the case for frozen easy—they are a seamless substitution for recipes, jams, toppings, and for eating blueberries all by themselves. Because wild blueberries are frozen at their peak of taste and nutrition, when you are using frozen, you are getting all the benefits of fresh. (Along with the added convenience and ease of use when you’re baking!)
Now you’re ready for a delicious treat with fresh frozen fruit. Don’t forget to open the freezer before you open the oven – wild blueberries are pleasing in so many ways.
Want more FAQs? Head over to FAQ Blue for the most asked questions and tips about eating, adding and cooking with wild blueberries.
NatGeo Traveler Editor Comes Clean About Life in the Fields
Costas Christ, Editor-at-Large at National Geographic Traveler, admits that he may have surprised a few of his friends when he wrote in his Traveler column, “Tales From The Frontier”, that his life is split between his role as an international traveler and his work as a crop tender in a small Down East town. He said the revelation may have surprised a few of his farmer friends as well.
In his recent piece Blueberry Fields Forever, Christ proudly revealed his double life as a Maine wild blueberry farmer on a 40-acre farm in the heart of wild blueberry country. He writes that he bought the farm in the 80s from a farming family that could no longer sustain life working the land, and it’s been a part of his life ever since.
While he is quick to point out that wild blueberry farming is no “get rich quick scheme”, Christ said that for local farmers like him, it’s the summer visitors that allow them to make a living. Intrigued with this centerpiece of the local economy, they come to buy, learn, and take part in processing – a fact of life that those who live here year round already know.
From “Blueberry Fields Forever”:
There is a satisfying, natural cycle. In the fall, I cover the fields—Maine’s indigenous low-bush blueberry plants stand only 6 inches tall when fully grown—in a thick blanket of golden straw. When spring arrives, family and friends come together and we set the fields on fire—a technique originally taught to settlers by Native Americans, who have harvested these berries for centuries. After burning, the plants sprout thick foliage, but no fruit. The following summer, the same plants flower exuberantly, tripling, even quadrupling the yield.
Christ is an expert in sustainable tourism and founding member and former Chairman of the International Ecotourism Society, and he writes for a number of publications, including the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Each August and September he can be found tending his wild blueberry farm and managing a Maine farmers market cooperative which represents local family farms.
You can read more from Costas Christ and other contributors at National Geographic Traveler’sTaste of Travel where the world of food, drink and wanderlust come together in posts that highlight everything from the best BBQ joints to Bangkok food markets.
Did you know that wild blueberries have been a mainstay of the economy in Maine, Quebec and Eastern Canada for well over 100 years? Learn more about the heritage and farming traditions of wild blueberries.
What posts had the biggest impact on our readers this year? The top ten posts of 2012 included everything from purple potatoes to HBO’s “The Newsroom”. We’re pleased to have been a part of sharing health and nutrition research, news, information, fun stories and recipes with you during the past twelve months. We’re looking forward to much more to come in 2013. Here’s to a healthy, wild, well new year!
1. Dig In: Purple Potatoes Have Vibrant Health Benefits
Health benefits from a colorful vegetable caught our readers’ attention this year – so much so, it was the top viewed post of 2012. Hat’s off to the unique power of purple!
10. Diabetes, Wild & “The Newsroom”
Your love for all three inched this post into the top 10 this year, and helped get this diabetes story the press it deserves.
Enjoying these top posts from 2012? Subscribe to have weekly headlines from Wild About Health sent right to your inbox all year long, or send us a story you’d like to see on Wild About Health on 2013!
This week, we’re happy to introduce you to Linda Tambunan, the force behind TheUrbanMrs.com, a blog about cooking simple, healthy dishes. The blog’s tagline, “Eat. Play. Love – Daringly Delicious” fits her perspective perfectly. It’s a place where Fridays usually have the adjective “Fun” and “Muffin Mondays” are a weekly occurrence. Her approach to cooking says it all: “to explore new flavors and leave the dishes unwashed.”
The self-proclaimed food enthusiast draws her inspiration from her upbringing in Asia spent hanging around her mother’s kitchen, and more recently from her own culinary experimentation in her San Francisco kitchen, thousands of miles from her childhood home. Her edible exploits, revealed in engaging narrative and visual documentation, are often interpretations of Asian-influenced dishes infused with West Coast style.
Many of Linda’s recipes reveal a love of fusion at their core, like this Turkey Empana and Chimichurri Sauce, a solution for Thanksgiving leftovers, these sweetly health-conscious Gluten-free Apple Cider Doughnuts, and the surprisingly appetizing Spam Pasta Salad, where two worlds collide deliciously. This week, she shares a recipe perfectly suited to Wild About Health. For these Wild Blueberry Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting, she says, “I rely heavily on the sweetness and colors of blueberry, hence this recipe is not as sweet as a regular cupcake,” and adds, “this is one of our family favorites”.
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.
Sunny Jennings shares plenty of wonderful dishes on her blog Tantra Cooking. Tantra, a method of cooking that puts the focus on the process of making the meal, allows us to combine our passion for whole, healthy food with the personal relationships that truly sustain us. Jennings says wild blueberries are her favorite fruit, and calls them “naturally sweet and perfect.” This week, she shares her New England memories of wild blueberry picking and cooking, exclusively with Wild About Health.
I REMEMBER EVERYTHINGabout living in the hills of New England through a rosy glow of nostalgia, especially summers, my many, wonderful girlfriends and blueberry season.
We all anticipated wild blueberry season and would begin getting together our recipes weeks ahead. Old recipes had been handed down through the families, new ones were usually clipped from Yankee Magazine and many were experimental works in progress. While we ate blueberries every day of the season, one day each August my friends and blueberries came together. It was magic.
Although I lived in the verdant hills far from a city, I was blessed to live in a neighborhood with other houses nearby. Most had women near my age and all were wonderful cooks or bakers. Each year, we would plan a morning hike on our closest mountain. We carried empty bags up the mountain and brought back down bags filled with wild blueberries for an all-afternoon baking event. Often, it rained on those mornings, which only seemed to make the event even more special. Picture us: no make up, hair yanked back under baseball caps, blue teeth and tongues, wet clothes and muddy boots. Yes, these are the girls gone wild for blueberries.
While I routinely used blueberries all kinds of ways, that day was dedicated to deserts and lots of sugar!
Sunny Jennings, “The Tantra Cook”
We each had several quarts to work with and the six kitchens closest to one another became a communal culinary site. We cooked that way for other large events, however, one Saturday each August, we created the largest wild blueberry test kitchen on the planet. Or, so we told ourselves. We told stories, caught up on our news, laughed, experimented, carefully or casually measured ingredients, shared equipment and gently critiqued each creation as it reached its optimal temperature. We loved our time together, and each of us carried timers hooked to our waists to remind us to race back and check on whatever was in the oven or refrigerator. Amazingly, we never lost a dish to inattention. Hot crumbles and crisps, warm pies, cakes and chilled trifles, came out beautifully as the native girls passed their generations of family knowledge on how to work with wild blueberries. For one day each year, we didn’t worry about whether our jeans would zip the following week and delved into pure yummy.
None of us had secret ingredients or recipes we refused to share. That isn’t the New England way, and we were all about helping one another develop even better recipes.
Now that I no longer live there, I keep my eyes open for wild blueberries, and I’m thrilled to have found them at better produce outlets. Not only do they allow me to feel connected to my wonderful friends in New England, but each is a sweet gift of flavor as it bursts in my mouth. It’s easy to forget how healthful they are! Over the years, I’ve cut back on the mountains of sugar we used during our blueberry baking marathons. Fortunately, blueberries don’t actually need sugar to sweeten them. They are naturally sweet,
naturally perfect.
We all have our favorite pie and crumble recipes, so today, I’ve included an updated recipe that is so healthy, I can enjoy it nearly every day. It’s a Wild Blueberry and Quinoa.
Most of my girlfriends from the gym begin their days with Greek yogurt, granola and blueberries. That’s a great start before our workouts. I’ve switched over to this quinoa recipe, which has the added benefit of Omega-3s. Also, the use of honey and walnuts reminds me of wonderful Greek deserts.
By cooking the quinoa the night before, I can assemble the dish, eat and get in half a workout before I wake up!
The term “rick” is in rare use today. It is most likely to be heard from the mouth of an “old timer” from Washington County referring to the long space between two lengths of twine that designates a raker’s area on the barrens. Sometimes you are lucky to get a “good rick” or unfortunate enough to have to rake a “bad rick”. The “bad ricks” are usually the start of the fields or near the woods. Today, most people refer to the section simple as a “row”.
Thanks to Todd Merrill of Merrill Blueberry Farms in Hancock Country for this information and for confirming my recollection of this term. –Ed.
Sunny Jennings, known by many as The Tantra Cook, was kind enough to share her own childhood memories of living in New England and picking wild blueberries — what she calls her favorite fruit — in the nearby hills. She also shares a favorite recipe.
On The Tantra Cooking Blog, Sunny joins her culinary passion and a penchant for fun with “Tantra Cooking,” a method of putting the focus on the process of the meal, from beginning to end. That might mean shopping for ingredients with the kids, chopping veggies with a girlfriend or chatting with family over the grill. It’s a wonderful approach that lends itself to choosing whole ingredients and helps us rely less on food short cuts that undermine our health. You Go, girl! Here’s a preview of her post for Wild About Health:
“…one Saturday each August, we created the largest wild blueberry test kitchen on the planet. Or, so we told ourselves. We told stories, caught up on our news, laughed, experimented, carefully or casually measured ingredients, shared equipment and gently critiqued each creation as it reached its optimal temperature. We loved our time together and each of us carried timers hooked to our waists to remind us to race back and check on whatever was in the oven or refrigerator.”
— Sunny Jennings
Relied-Upon Recipe Classics for a Wild Season
The season is ON! Use your fresh while you can in these Maine favorites this weekend.
Just as night follows day, a deluge of fresh fruits can sometimes lead to jam. Jam is one of summer food’s wonderful spin-offs. When the luxury of copious amounts of fruit surrounds us, jam is a way to utilize our beautiful excess. It provides us with a gift for friends and neighbors and a way to recall summer’s bounty when it’s darker and colder.
We’ve discussed jam’s advantages and its caveats in a previous post (Jam-tastic! from June 2011). While its deliciousness is undisputed, it’s true that some nutrients are lost when berries turn to jams. According to Livestrong.com, boiling that occurs in the process of canning changes fruits’ enzymes, reducing its vitamins by as much as one-half to one-third. Vitamins possess the antioxidant activity that fruits like wild blueberries, for example, are famous for.
Dr. Daniel Nadeau recently pointed out that fruits like blueberries are best eaten raw or frozen to take full advantage of their disease-preventing power. Still, jam has many advantages for the healthy eater. It has half the calories of butter, which it is often substituted for, and it is low in cholesterol. And, by boiling and canning fruits yourself, you avoid processed foods with added sugar and preservatives while passing along a respectable amount of nutrient content. Did we also mention it is famously palate-pleasing? It lends a fruit forward essence to toast, cheese, crackers, yogurt – even coffee.*
Buried in Berries? Start Here
Put your fresh fruit where your mouth is and get hands-on with summer’s crop of wild blueberries. Two hands-on workshops, sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, provide a practical lesson on making low-sugar blueberry jam and low-sugar blueberry spice jam for those who live in southern Maine. Both workshops will be taught by master food preserver Kate McCarty and will be held at 75 Clearwater Drive in Falmouth at a cost of $10. The Blueberry Jam Workshop will be held 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2; the Blueberry Spice Workshop will be on Aug. 11. For more information or to register, call 781-6099 or e-mail [email protected].
Jam Tomorrow, Jam Today
When the White Queen told Alice that there would be jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today, it’s no wonder the poor girl was confused. We can relate: sometimes it seems the ever-unreachable treat will never come. It makes jam the perfect object lesson when it comes to the indulgences of summer – the promise of a little now and a little later is infinitely more digestible.
Make today’s summer tastes last until tomorrow by getting creative with your jams. Huff Post recommends a few jam recipes to inspire you. Their Mixed Berry Jam allows a mélange of summer’s berries for even bigger berry taste – the result is the “ultimate” jam. With Simplest Rhubarb Jam you won’t let one of the season’s most popular fruits go unjarred. This jam makes a luscious condiment for cheese, for example. Huff also recommends putting Fresh Fruit Butter into your repertoire. Fruit butter – for which wild blueberries are a perfect choice – doesn’t use pectin and is thick and sticky for when you’d rather smear than dollop.
Jam Don’t Shake Like That
Jam’s counterpart, jelly, is usually known for being made from an ingredient’s juice or essence rather than its crushed whole. Blueberry harvest season is a perfect opportunity to join two favored flavors in jelly form. Wild blueberries and hot peppers pop when paired – they work so well together that you’ll want this combo in everything from meats to appetizers. This Blueberry Pepper Jelly recipe is from Lauri Jon Bennett, who promises that you can jar your jams and jellies without buying lots of expensive canning equipment. (She improvises by using rubber bands wrapped around kitchen tongs to create a jar lifter.) She also offers up a recipe for “addictive” Blackberry Jam with Lemon Zest or her Peach Jam with Lemon Thyme and Almonds for some lip-smacking seasonal zing.
If even a moderate jarring operation isn’t for you, you can still enjoy jam with your bounty of blues. Use them in this easy Wild Blueberry Lemon Jam from the wildblueberries.com recipe bank that requires only jars and a boiling water canner. Waffles have never been this mouth-watering. It weighs in at 34 calories per tablespoon.
Prefer to make your own pectin? Using homemade pectin means you’re making completely natural preserves. Learn about making your own pectin for jams and jellies from pickyourown.org.
*Have a unique use for jams and jellies? Let us know by leaving a comment. We’ll use the best in our Best of Fresh Blues list!
What is surprisingly small, startlingly tasty and only around once a year? It’s lowbush blueberries (known widely as “wild ”), available in Maine and Nova Scotia exclusively during the special weeks of harvest season. If you live in the region, you’re lucky – you can enjoy one of nature’s most sensational gifts fresh from the field. They bring joy to our taste buds and to our bodies in equal measure, thanks to unsurpassed antioxidant power. It’s nearly time to engage in the tradition of picking, buying, cooking, and eating wild blueberries during the few weeks a year they burst in a sea of blue from the fields.
Wild By Nature
What’s so special about wild? You can easily get the scoop on wild blues from anyone in Northern Maine. Blueberries grown there are not planted from seed or transplanted – they are wild, created by bees transferring pollen. One acre of plants typically contains over one hundred varieties, each genetically distinct, providing that characteristic diversity of flavor. While cultivated berries – larger berries not sold under the moniker of “wild” – have just over 100 varieties, there are an estimated 6.5 million wild blueberry “clones” or varieties of wild blueberry plants. They flower into a superior sweetness that delivers superb disease fighting compounds: the deep violet skin that provides protection as they bask in the harsh summer sun is transferred to our own bodies to fight disease and aging when we eat them. There are more fresh wild blueberries in a cup, pint, or serving than cultivated, too, because of their size (approximately 150 vs. just 90 according to Virginia Wright, author of The Blueberry Book), meaning more antioxidant power is delivered via the higher ratio of deep blue skin.
Today, farmers with acres of wild blueberry fields are preparing for the harvest, which occurs around the last week in July and lasts through mid-September. Right now, crews are beginning to arrive to process the berries from the fields – over 200 million pounds will be harvested in the growing areas during this time. While the majority of the harvest is frozen, a chosen few remain fresh and appear in local markets and on roadside farm stands. Fairs and festivals will commence, celebrating the season with berry-focused events, and menus around New England will feature wild blueberry-themed dishes. It’s a special time, and it takes place only in a special place, and that time is here.
“Fresh!” A Special Request
Even with IQF freezing that preserves all the nutrition and taste of fresh for our enjoyment year-round, eating fresh blueberries from cardboard containers has a special allure for local residents. It truly connects us to our foods origins, reminding us that wild blueberries are a special treat indigenous to our area and facilitated by local farmers who have worked their fields for generations. Eating fresh blues also allows us the opportunity to better savor each berry, assessing their individual tastes – one sweet, one tangy, one jammy, one tart – and the mixture of under- and overripe berries that mix to create an unduplicated complexity of flavor that can only be found in nature in late summer.
Fresh wild blueberries also provide a tradition of picking (or just picking up from your local market or roadside stand) and reveling in brimming pints stacked and ready for snacking and cooking. For many families in Maine, it’s a rite of passage – a tradition that is passed down through generations that comes to define summer in a region that holds the season itself and its bounty dear.
July is National Blueberry Month (Naturally!)
Even for those who don’t live in the region, it’s time to eat blueberries. Here, we eat them fresh at every meal, in every dish. Head to local fields to pick your own and start a summer tradition if you don’t have one. You can find pick-your-own wild blueberry fields in Nova Scotia or search for them in Maine by region. Then, bring your plenty home and get creative. You can do anything from grilling them to having them the more conventional way – by the forkful in a heavenly blueberry pie or blueberry turnover (like these from Plating Up). Sprinkle and scoop them onto anything and everything: cereal, yogurt, salsa, sandwiches, entrees and ice cream. It’s no time to be conservative. Indulge in this wonderful gift of nature while you can.
When you’re done picking, local restaurants will offer you respite. Menus are bursting with blue in the summer to pay homage to the season. Chefs feature freshly harvested blues in an array of seasonal dishes ranging from crisps and brûlée to decadent entrées where blueberries complement the flavors of the main course. Just browse the menu of your favorite local bistro, café, eatery, or bakery, or take a look at what some Maine chefs do with wild blueberries by viewing the videoWild Blueberries – A Culinary Star.
Capture the Wonders of Blue This Season
Want to capture those glowing, picturesque fresh wild berries during this fleeting season? There are plenty of mouth-watering ways. Share your fresh sightings and gastronomic wonders far and wide this year. Snap a photo and share it with your friends, on your favorite social network, send it to us, or pin it on your Pinterest page (or follow us on Pinterest to join the fun).
Here are some places you can find and capture the fresh wild blue essence before they are gone:
Need recipes for fresh wild blueberries? We have them! Bookmark wildblueberries.com so you’ll be ready, or follow us on Facebook for the latest recipe ideas from around the web.
See Wild Blueberry Country First Hand! It’s your last chance – there are only a few days left to enter to win Five Days of Food and Fun in the Land of Wild Blueberries.
