“Don’t trust blue food, it doesn’t exist in nature,” or so say advocates of avoiding blue raspberry icies or electrolyte-filled sports drinks. But one glaring exception will dominate nature in the coming weeks…whether in lush gardens, along rocky ledges of wilderness islands, or studding wooded bluffs on the edges of forest burns. Blueberries, destined for pie, pancakes, or just bathed in cream, are a highlight of late summer foraging. Each year we scout the wild blueberry bushes that fill the Northwoods, diligently checking our favorite spots beginning around the 4th of July. And frustratingly, many years we miss the peak—try as we may to slip through the narrow window when the dusty blue clusters are so ripe it’s best to keep an eye open for black bears vying for the same prize.
Back home, in my own garden, I’ve been an abysmal blueberry farmer—never seeming to get them fertilized quite right, so my annual harvest is generally sparse. But as a kid living in the Pacific Northwest for a while, we had blueberry bushes along our back fence that produced prolifically. Even as a middle-schooler, I loved gathering and cooking the sweetly tender berries into dessert sauces or crushing them up with honey and cinnamon for spooning over cornmeal pancakes—no doubt inspired by my grandparents, who lived in wild blackberry country and made berry syrups and jams to no end. My mother, deeply in tune with peaches, churned out buckets of stone fruit ice creams. A bowlful of frozen peach-perfumed scoops, topped with a chunky blueberry compote, is probably one of the best flavor combos of summertime.
Photo originally for the Minneapolis Star Tribune…baking/styling by Lisa Golden Schroeder, photo by Dennis Becker.
It’s nearly time to start plucking the ripest sun-bathed berries, whether spying them in the wild or in a neighbor’s yard. Don’t let them pass you by.
Norwegian-style waffles need nothing more than fresh berries & a sprinkle of torn garden mint… food/styling by Lisa Golden Schroeder, photo by Dennis Becker.
Grilled lamb rack ribs are richly perfect with a pickled woodsy chanterelle & blueberry chutney (recipe here). Food/styling by Lisa Golden Schroeder, photo by Dennis Becker. From Untamed Mushrooms: From Field to Table.