Good morning,
As blueberry season swiftly approaches here in New England, I thought I’d share some interesting tidbits about the fruit (you may be surprised how recent its history of widespread cultivation is), along with a summary of the freeze-drying process and a promised recipe for which you voted.
First, news:
Farmers markets. I’ll be at the farmers market in Washington Depot next Saturday, July 22, from 9:30 to 12:30, selling my granola and shortbread (and, of course, I don’t go anywhere without copies of my book).
Through the rest of the season (October, in fact), I’ll be popping in at the farmers markets in West Hartford and Fairfield. Check my calendar for dates.
ABOUT BLUEBERRIES. Here is my “Blueberry Fruit File,” excerpted from Good & Sweet:
Origin: The blueberry is the only fruit in my Fruit Files that is native to North America. Until 1916, however, there was no large-scale cultivation of blueberries. That year, a farm owner named Elizabeth White sponsored, on her New Jersey land, the first successful attempt at commercial cultivation. Blueberries have made their way abroad, but North America remains the berries' biggest producer.
Order: Ericales (also includes kiwifruit, persimmons, tea, macadamia nuts)
Family: Ericaceae (also includes cranberries, huckleberries)
Genus: Vaccinium
Favorite Baking Varieties: Lowbush "wild" varieties
Sugar Content: fresh, 10% sugar; freeze-dried, 65-70% sugar
Harvest Season: Spring (in warmer climates like Florida and Southern California) to late summer (in cooler climates like New England)
Is It Ripe? (How To Tell): Ripe blueberries are a deep blackish blue with a hint of purple and a cloudy, silvery bloom across their skin. If they are reddish, it means they aren't ripe, and they don't get any riper with time once harvested. They should feel smooth, firm, and plump.
Where It Grows (Top 10): USA, Canada, Peru, Spain, Mexico, Poland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia
WHAT’S “FREEZE-DRIED”? In the purple blueberry pancake recipe that follows, we use freeze-dried blueberries. Here’s a bit about what that means (also excerpted from Good & Sweet):
Freeze-drying removes virtually all of the water from a fruit, distilling it to the sweetest and most intensely flavorful (albeit crunchy) version of its ripe self; freeze-drying avoids to a certain extent the flavor and structural metamorphosis we get with traditionally dehydrated fruit. How it works: A freeze-dryer rapidly freezes the water in a fruit (or anything else), then a combination of low heat and gentle pressure causes the ice to sublime (change state directly from a solid to a gas) and escape.
Where to buy freeze-dried blueberries, you ask? They’re pretty easy to find at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, nuts.com, or Target. Some links here.
Now, for the promised recipe:
(PURPLE) BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
Makes 10-12 six-inch pancakes
Ingredients:
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