Blueberry season in Maine!!!

9 years ago

While it will be a few more years before my dozen high bush blueberries start producing more than a few yummy handfuls - my sister and I have a overgrown field packed with wild blueberries. It is literally impossible not to step on the bushes. Wild blueberries are smaller, sweeter, more flavorful than the high bush varieties. But they are a pain in the back to pick. The bushes are somewhere between 8" to maybe 24" tall. And they collapse under the weight of the berries. There is so much weedy overgrowth I find it easier to pick than to rake. The raking is faster but there is so much more cleaning. And the berries get more roughly treated by raking.

I have picked and frozen 26 pounds so far and eaten or given away a bunch more fresh - my sister has gotten maybe 16-18 pounds. I hope to get 4-10 more pounds frozen and then pick some to play. Thinking blueberry syrup or cake, pie, granita..... And then there are wild black and chokecherries...

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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Went to Maine one summer. Exploring the woods one day and saw a lot of blueberries. There was a sign and a money box nearby a tree. The sign said, “Fresh blueberries. Real
organic. Pick all you want. $7.00 per person. Please deposit cash in box. Maine honor system.”

The four of us each deposited our money and we were really enjoying ourselves.

Much later, were found out that those were just wild blueberries which belonged to no one.

Some wise axx Maine redneck cheated us smart city slickers.

dcarch

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Comments (8)

colleenoz
9 years ago
Lucky, lucky you!

Out of curiosity, have you tried an olive picking rake? They are a little hand rake with short plastic fingers designed to strip olives off a tree. They might work for blueberries too :-)
User
9 years ago
I bought some from my favorite roadside stand last week, on the way to Mount Desert Island.

There are blueberry barrens along the road. The berries are amazing.

I froze them and brought them home. I made blueberry crisp last night. It was, of course, very good.
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PRO
Lars/J. Robert Scott
9 years ago
I've never had wild blueberries, but I do buy blueberry juice, and that has the most flavor of anything blueberry that I've had. I buy grocery store blueberries (in and out of season), and I also store them in a special box container in the freezer. Then in the morning I put a few of them in a container with yogurt that I take to work for breakfast and add granola. The frozen blueberries help keep the yogurt cold until I'm ready to eat it, and by then, the blueberries have defrosted.

One think I especially like about blueberries is that they do not seem to suffer from having been frozen.

Blueberry syrup sounds especially good! I would use that on pancakes instead of putting blueberries inside.

I've picked olives, but they are inedible right off the trees.

My pitaya plant has buds on it again this year, but only three, meaning I will get three pitayas this year, at most, providing I pollinate them at the correct time and pick them before squirrels get to them. I only got one last year because I did not pollinate the flowers at the correct time. They have to be pollinated right after they open, which is about 8:00 PM. By morning it is too late, even if the flowers are still open.
Gooster
9 years ago
How lucky are you! I love wild blueberries. (And huckleberries as well)

I like to make cobbler (less crust) and make a compote with a little lemon and honey to put on top of waffle, pancakes or crepes. Sorbet or ice cream are also great, in addition to your other plans.
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Anglophilia
9 years ago
momj47, we spent two summers on Mt Desert Island and the culinary memories of those two summers will stay with me forever! Hot popovers at the Jordan Pond House. Lobster stew, lobster rolls and steamed lobster - sheer bliss! And the wild blueberries! We found a patch across from our rental house in Northeast Harbor. And the local bakery made fabulous pies from these tiny berries with such intense flavor.

I'd love to go back to ME again - in August - sometime before I die. May just not be possible. But at least I can make popovers and lobster stew using the recipes from the Jordan Pond House for Christmas Eve dinner every single year!
agmss15
Original Author
9 years ago
Colleenoz we have these...

This is a blueberry rake. Unfortunately because the field is so overgrown and the plants are so flopped over from the sheer weight of the fruit it isn't very efficient to rake. I did cut saplings out of one tiny area to see if that would help next year. Plus we don't have a winnower which helps clean out the leaves and unripe berries. We have used a compressor to help blow away leaves. But I either spend more time picking and less cleaning or vise versa.

On a side note my dog managed in spectacular doggy fashion to find and roll in thoroughly somethings poop. Whatever it was has been feasting on blueberries so now his special day glo tic repelling jacket has some new blue/black camouflage blotches.
agmss15
Original Author
9 years ago
Darch - not city slicker but flat lander! Or out of stater..