Chilling Out with Blueberries

Back on the farm in the 1950s, I knew what the arrival of blueberries in the local store meant: my grandmother’s blueberry pie. Like many families, our blueberry expectations were centered around desserts. Occasionally, we had blueberry pancakes, and someone made blueberry jam. But that was the extent of our blueberry consumption. I don’t even remember blueberries appearing in any of the Jell-O creations over the years.

When I moved to Boston in the late 1960s, I began to broaden my experience with blueberries. First, there were the delicious blueberry muffins from the Jordan Marsh department store. Sure, New Englanders still love a good blueberry pie, but I began to enjoy a whole variety of blueberry desserts – tarts, crisps, buckles, cheesecake, and crêpes. New Englanders’ love of ice cream includes various versions of blueberry. Ben & Jerry’s alone has three different flavors: red, white, and blueberry; blueberry cheesecake; and Greek Blueberry Vanilla Graham.

Blueberry beginnings

I suspect that my limited experience with blueberries has something to do with the development of commercial growing of the fruit. Wild blueberries originated in North America and were used extensively by the Native Americans of the northern climates. Besides eating them fresh, the Native Americans dried them in the sun to be used later in puddings, cakes, and pemmican (a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and dried berries). And while European settlers in Maine canned wild blueberries – the small, low-bush variety – beginning about the time of the Civil War, the industry died out later in the 1800s. Then, in the early 1900s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed high-bush blueberries that could be cultivated and farmed, and the first big operations began in New Jersey in the 1920s. Commercial blueberries were born.

Blueberry bounty

Here in Massachusetts, we’re in the midst of blueberry season at the local farmers’ markets. I am wondering what else we can do with blueberries besides spreading them over our morning cereal or baking them in a pie – like sauces, salads, and salsas. This blueberry, corn, and feta salad pairs my favorite vegetable with blueberries. Besides a fruit salad that includes blueberries, you could also make a green salad with spinach or romaine.

Blueberries pair well with poultry and roast pork. Here’s a stovetop blueberry-Dijon chicken recipe and a grilled pork tenderloin with three-berry salsa. Or how about Cornish hen with blueberry and shallot sauce? If you have an ice-cream maker, there’s nothing quite so good as blueberry ice cream, and Mrs. Farmboy wants to share her super-simple recipe that involves just five minutes of cooking.

Blueberry bubbly

And don’t forget drinks with blueberry. When it’s hot, you want a cool spritzer, so don’t just stop at blueberry lemonade. How about a blueberry daiquiri, blueberry sangria with white wine and Grand Marnier, or some other adult beverage?

Here’s another idea. Two Mainers who moved to California to learn to be vintners later returned to Maine to pursue their passion for wild blueberries. The friends developed a sparkling Bluet wine made from small low-bush blues in partnership with the families who tend the fields. Their tasty dry bubbly is now available by ordering online.

So how about adding some blueberries to your hot-weather menus? We could all use a little variety these days. What’s your approach?

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