It’s high season for blueberries where I live. And they’re all around us… I’ve seen the darling little, almost-magical blue-skinned gems for as much $12 per pint / 551 ml in the ‘off’ season – when they can be found at all. Now is the time to celebrate!
Where I live, in central Canada, blueberries are everywhere – a native bounty. But they don’t grow spontaneously in urban landscapes. They need unsspoiled wooded areas or meadows. Or big farms where specialist growers cultivate them…
Do it NOW!
Those farms are he source of the vast majority of blueberries we get in our supermarkets this time of year. Some come from as far as 150 miles away, ‘up-country’. But that’s still considered ‘local’ locally defined purposes.
I’m declaring Blueberry season officially open. Not because I’ve been hiking the woods in search of them, in competition with the black bears and all the wild birds out there. I found a big featured dis-play of blueberries at the supermarket this morning on special for $2 per pint. So I bought 4 right off the bat, I’m going to make a pie while I can afford to!
Then, if they’re still that cheap, I’ll make muffins – several dozen, and freeze them. Then pancakes and quick bread (teamed with bananas!). and who knows what else…
Not a stranger
Blueberries are not strangers to my home. I try to have some every morning – half a cup at least – as a dietary enhancement. They’re one of the most powerful superfoods, and by far, one of tastiest! Un-like nutri-peers Kale and Spinach. I can easily afford them three seasons of the year, no matter how far they may have to travel to get to me. My rationale is, they’re ‘medicine’. Of course, my late, belov-ed Mom used to say the same thing about Pinot Griggio. But that’s another story for ano0ther day…
Wide-ranging
Blueberries are found across a wide geographical range in North America. They’re abundant in the mountainous regions and close to the Canadian border in the US. But they’re a powerhouse agricult-ural commodity in my home and native land!
“Besides consistently ranking as our top fruit export, Canada remains the second-largest commercial blueberry producer globally. From the misty mountain fields of British Columbia to the wild bushes of Nova Scotia, blueberries are grown all over the country,” exalts Canada Action.com.
Fast Facts:
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- Canada is home to around a dozen separate species of blueberries.
- Canadian farmers harvested 180,117 metric tonnes of blueberries in 2022.
- Canadian blueberry exports topped $630 million in 2023.
- Blueberries accounted for 57 percent of Canada’s total fruit export value in 2023.
My take
Because most ‘blueberries’ in commercial baked good such as cookies, breads and muffins are fake, it’s worth reminding you that products containing the real deal will always cost significantly more. Don’t be hoodwinked by supermarket ‘blueberry’ baked goods.
Go to small, neighbourhood bakers – or drive out to a town or village near you where they have a boutique bakery. And pay a little more for the real deal (see photo, top of page). I’m blessed in that I have half a dozen such destinat-ions within an hour’s drive of my Ottawa home. You’ll be glad you burned a little extra gas!
And remember, blueberries freeze beautifully! Get ’em now, and sock ’em away for the winter…
Gotta go – my pie has to come out of the oven!
~ Maggie J.