I’m feeling blue(berries)!

My hiking trip last week was one full of surprises, but possibly the best one of the trip was discovering a tasty treat at the end of our ascent. Wild blueberries covered the mountain top, and thanks  to my knowledgeable guide, Shaun, we were able to identify them and feel safe chowing down.

While in the middle of so many sweet, flavorful berries (these really put your grocery store variety to shame), I felt I had to pic some to share with friends who hadn’t accompanied us, particularly one baking-inclined friend. Luckily I had an empty water bottle to collect and store the berries so they wouldn’t get squished on our way down. After returning home, I felt compelled to find out more about the little blue berries.

A quick snapshot of the blueberries we picked. Photo: Elizabeth Piseczny

Wild blueberries, which are smaller than what you’d find at the grocer’s, are a flowering plant indigenous to North America, so they have quite a resistance to any sort of disease.  They can have oval-shaped or lance-shaped (long, wider middle) leaves.  While there are many species of blueberries, Vaccinium boreale, the Northern Blueberry, grows in an area ranging from Quebec in the North to New York and Massachusetts in the South. Wild blueberries are a low-bush variety (growing up to a few inches tall), but there are high-bush varieties that grow much taller.  They grow well in acidic rocky or clay soils, and they require full sun, so you can imagine they would flourish at the top of a mountain without any trees to filter out light. When blueberry plants grow in a way in which they cover a large area of land (often naturally), it is called a blueberry barren.

Blueberries are often called a “superfruit” because they’re rich in antioxidants, which can prevent and repair damage done to our bodies by free radicals, and are reputed to have many health benefits, including reducing risks of some diseases like cancer and heart disease.  Like the apple is to New York, wild blueberries are the official fruit of Maine.

Depending on location, the peak season for blueberries can vary, but in the early days of August, there were berries everywhere (a lower peak of Jay Mountain).

When I was younger, we used to pick different kinds of berries that ripened in the later summer, hoping to amass enough to make jams. I remember having to remind myself not to eat the berries as I was picking, because the treat of homemade jam would be my reward later! I only wish I’d had the time (and storage containers) to gather enough for blueberry jam!