First Summer Blueberries

Last night my wife and I attended the Hillsboro first Tuesday art walk.  I looked at a couple of the galleries then headed off to the Farmers Market because I know that it is now blueberry season – Finally!

I walked through the market and looked at all the booths offering different food cuisines and enjoying the smell of the different foods cooking.  I walked along and admired the classic cars on display, and then went to find the blueberries.  There were about six different vendors offering strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries by the pint, half-flat or full flat and I carefully weighed the attributes of the blueberries at each booth.

I chose to purchase from Van Dyke Farms, one of the local Hillsboro producers because they offer full flats (with large pints) priced at several dollars less than other vendors.  I was interested to overhear a conversation about the blueberries and how some of the berries have small brown puckered areas caused by hail damage earlier this spring.  These damaged areas don’t affect the taste, but just the appearance of the blueberries.

By the time we returned home, I had already eaten about ½ a cup of berries.  My wife washed a pint and I had about another ½ cup over about two tablespoons of vanilla ice cream.  The berries are very firm with a good taste, but they are not as sweet as some years, this is probably due to the lack of hot weather (that should not be a problem next week as we are entering into 90-degree weather).

This morning I had about a cup of blueberries on my morning cereal, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I have several blueberries recipes to test and I am looking forward to sharing the results over the next few weeks.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell