My neighbor, Mertie Abbott has been picking wild blueberries for as long as she can remember. During her childhood she and her sister looked forward to a day of picking with their parents. Her mother would make a picnic lunch of fresh biscuits, home-canned meat and cucumbers, and they would travel by horse and wagon to places where the blueberries were plentiful on abandoned farms, or along the railroad bed on the way to Rangeley. Years later Mertie and her own young family would camp on Mt. Blue to pick blueberries. They had no tent, and her daughter Elaine remembers with delight sleeping under the stars on those special trips.
Mertie’s face lights up with pleasure when she recounts these stories of gathering ripe blueberries. The pleasure of a family day together off the farm, the pleasure of being outdoors in the sunshine, the pleasure of a simple picnic (even now she remembers how good those homemade biscuits were!), and later, the pleasure of opening a jar of blueberry jam during the long Maine winter.
At 83, she still picks berries, and there is always a delicious pie to be pulled from her freezer. She is often accompanied by her daughter and great-grandchildren.
The Abbott family’s yearly blueberrying has enriched their connection to each other and to their native countryside, providing a long-lasting enjoyment no trip to the supermarket can begin to duplicate.
Wild, lowbush blueberries are part of Maine’s food heritage and culture. Before the advent of commercially canned and frozen foods, people picked and canned for themselves. Now, most of the wild fruit is eaten by birds and animals.
Berries and wild apples are perhaps the greatest neglected resource we have. Rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, the tons of wild fruit in our back yards could nourish every man, woman and child in Franklin County.
If we get out to pick it.
Lucky you if you happen to have a patch of wild blueberries nearby. Blueberries are choosy about where they grow: usually an open hillside where the soil is acid enough. If their conditions are stable, the plants will survive in the same spot for years. In Franklin County wild blueberries are ripe for picking from late July into September. (The higher the elevation, the later the ripening.)
Keep fresh blueberries cool but do not refrigerate for the best flavor. Blueberries freeze extremely well. If you pick your own from the wild or from an organic farm, you can freeze them without washing. Gallon-sized freezer bags hold about four pounds of berries. Once frozen, it’s a snap to thaw out any amount for pancakes, a pie, or jam. They are delicious mixed into yoghurt or hot oatmeal for breakfast. A dessert sauce is embarrassingly easy: gently cook a cupful of fresh or frozen berries with sugar and a little water until tender.
Wild blueberries have a bright, tart flavor that is enhanced by the addition of some sugar in cooking. But don’t overdo. Some jams are so sweet you can’t find the blueberry in them! A dash of lemon juice or lemon peel also enhances their flavor in jams and cooked deserts.
Blueberry Scones
I make these scones with frozen blueberries for a treat after an afternoon of cross-country skiing. The prep time is about 10 minutes, and they are so good you won’t want to have them too often! It is a great way to use up raw milk (available locally) that has begun to sour in your fridge.
2 cups of sifted flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ cup butter
1 cup blueberries, semi-thawed
½ cup of buttermilk, soured milk or plain yoghurt
1 TBL honey or unsulphured molasses
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Cut in butter to size of peas. Add berries and mix lightly. Make a hollow and gradually pour in milk and honey or molasses. Stir well. Pat dough with hands, to avoid crushing berries, to ½” thickness. Cut in triangles. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake in 425 F oven 12 – 15 minutes. Split, spread with butter, and serve hot. Yum!
6 – 8 scones
Low Sugar Blueberry Jam
A jar of this jam will not last long! This recipe came from a French cook who loved our blueberries. It uses less sugar than standard American recipes and no additional pectin. Use any amount of berries you happen to have: the proportion is half the weight of sugar to berries.
3 pounds of blueberries, rinsed
1 ½ pounds sugar
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
2 TBL fresh lemon juice
Cook the berries over high heat in a non-reactive pot, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and crushing them with the back of the spoon, for 5 minutes. (The water left clinging to the berries will be enough to prevent them from scorching.)
Add the sugar, zest, and lemon juice and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and boil the jam, skimming frequently, for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the jellying point has been reached. (A spoonful of jam should solidify on a saucer which has been chilled in the freezer.)
Ladle the jam into warm, sterilized jars and seal.
3 pounds of blueberries makes 1 ½ quarts of jam.
The jam can be made with frozen berries: they will need more cooking time.
Note: the USDA recommends using a hot water bath as part of the canning process. I have never had a jar of jam spoil using this recipe, which does not include a hot water bath. Use common sense and err on the side of caution with any food preservation technique.
Mertie’s face lights up with pleasure when she recounts these stories of gathering ripe blueberries. The pleasure of a family day together off the farm, the pleasure of being outdoors in the sunshine, the pleasure of a simple picnic (even now she remembers how good those homemade biscuits were!), and later, the pleasure of opening a jar of blueberry jam during the long Maine winter.
At 83, she still picks berries, and there is always a delicious pie to be pulled from her freezer. She is often accompanied by her daughter and great-grandchildren.
The Abbott family’s yearly blueberrying has enriched their connection to each other and to their native countryside, providing a long-lasting enjoyment no trip to the supermarket can begin to duplicate.
Wild, lowbush blueberries are part of Maine’s food heritage and culture. Before the advent of commercially canned and frozen foods, people picked and canned for themselves. Now, most of the wild fruit is eaten by birds and animals.
Berries and wild apples are perhaps the greatest neglected resource we have. Rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, the tons of wild fruit in our back yards could nourish every man, woman and child in Franklin County.
If we get out to pick it.
Lucky you if you happen to have a patch of wild blueberries nearby. Blueberries are choosy about where they grow: usually an open hillside where the soil is acid enough. If their conditions are stable, the plants will survive in the same spot for years. In Franklin County wild blueberries are ripe for picking from late July into September. (The higher the elevation, the later the ripening.)
Keep fresh blueberries cool but do not refrigerate for the best flavor. Blueberries freeze extremely well. If you pick your own from the wild or from an organic farm, you can freeze them without washing. Gallon-sized freezer bags hold about four pounds of berries. Once frozen, it’s a snap to thaw out any amount for pancakes, a pie, or jam. They are delicious mixed into yoghurt or hot oatmeal for breakfast. A dessert sauce is embarrassingly easy: gently cook a cupful of fresh or frozen berries with sugar and a little water until tender.
Wild blueberries have a bright, tart flavor that is enhanced by the addition of some sugar in cooking. But don’t overdo. Some jams are so sweet you can’t find the blueberry in them! A dash of lemon juice or lemon peel also enhances their flavor in jams and cooked deserts.
Blueberry Scones
I make these scones with frozen blueberries for a treat after an afternoon of cross-country skiing. The prep time is about 10 minutes, and they are so good you won’t want to have them too often! It is a great way to use up raw milk (available locally) that has begun to sour in your fridge.
2 cups of sifted flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ cup butter
1 cup blueberries, semi-thawed
½ cup of buttermilk, soured milk or plain yoghurt
1 TBL honey or unsulphured molasses
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Cut in butter to size of peas. Add berries and mix lightly. Make a hollow and gradually pour in milk and honey or molasses. Stir well. Pat dough with hands, to avoid crushing berries, to ½” thickness. Cut in triangles. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake in 425 F oven 12 – 15 minutes. Split, spread with butter, and serve hot. Yum!
6 – 8 scones
Low Sugar Blueberry Jam
A jar of this jam will not last long! This recipe came from a French cook who loved our blueberries. It uses less sugar than standard American recipes and no additional pectin. Use any amount of berries you happen to have: the proportion is half the weight of sugar to berries.
3 pounds of blueberries, rinsed
1 ½ pounds sugar
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
2 TBL fresh lemon juice
Cook the berries over high heat in a non-reactive pot, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and crushing them with the back of the spoon, for 5 minutes. (The water left clinging to the berries will be enough to prevent them from scorching.)
Add the sugar, zest, and lemon juice and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and boil the jam, skimming frequently, for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the jellying point has been reached. (A spoonful of jam should solidify on a saucer which has been chilled in the freezer.)
Ladle the jam into warm, sterilized jars and seal.
3 pounds of blueberries makes 1 ½ quarts of jam.
The jam can be made with frozen berries: they will need more cooking time.
Note: the USDA recommends using a hot water bath as part of the canning process. I have never had a jar of jam spoil using this recipe, which does not include a hot water bath. Use common sense and err on the side of caution with any food preservation technique.
