It is hard to believe how bountiful the
blueberries are this year - given the hot and dry summer we are
having. We were delighted to go out to 'blueberry hill' this
morning to find billions of deep blue berries warming in the
sun. Yum!
What will we do with all those berries?
Lots!
The first bunch will go into the freezer, to
be measured out carefully through the winter in blueberry
muffins. The next bunch goes into pie! After that comes the
jam, yum!
My favourite blueberry pies are blends with
other fruits. The best is blueberry with wild red currents in a
3:1 ratio. However, the little red currents are not all that
easy to come by. It is only one year in ten that we get to
enjoy a blueberry-current blend.
Next best is blueberry with rhubarb. Finding
enough rhubarb is never a problem. As long as you pick the
rhubarb regularly through the spring and summer, there will be
tender new shoots ready for blueberry-rhubarb pie. Pour two
cups of blueberries on top of two cups of chopped fresh rhubarb
in a piecrust, sprinkle with a cup of sugar that has a
tablespoon of cornstarch stirred in. Top with another crust,
and bake! Yum!
If the blueberries last into August, another
fine blend is blueberry and peach. Two cups of each works very
nicely.
Have you ever made jam? It's really easy. You
need berries, lemon juice, sugar and some type of pectin. The
directions in the Certo packages are very simple, but I find
they use too much sugar. The delicate taste of the berries is
lost. Instead, I use Pomona's Universal Pectin (available at
Durham Health Foods). It may seem expensive to buy, but when
you consider it makes as much jam as four boxes of Certo,
you'll see the cost is comparable.
Pomona's pectin does not insist that you use
more sugar than fruit. In fact, the recipes inside generally
suggest using only two cups of sugar for four cups of fruit! It
makes a very delicious jam that retains all the natural
flavours of our wild berries.
I'll make a few batches of pure blueberry
jam, then I'll start to branch out into the blends. Here are
some the ratios I use. Blueberry/black current 3:1.
Blueberry/rhubarb 1:1. Blueberry/peach 1:3.
In the past few years, I have started making
one batch of blueberry-ginger marmalade. It requires no added
pectin. Finely chop two whole organic lemons, grate two to four
tablespoons of fresh ginger, and simmer in two cups of water
for five to ten minutes. Add two or three cups of blueberries
and two to three cups of sugar, and simmer for another 10
minutes. Pour into jam jars and seal. Yum!
Here's hoping you have some time to spend in
the blueberry patch this summer. It is a delicious way to spend
a day.
Viki Mather lives by a lake near Sudbury.
