Local, cultivated blueberries coming ripe soon

The Pocono Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania, along with the pine barrens of southern New Jersey and parts of eastern New England, were the original home of the native highbush blueberries from which most of our modern hybrids have descended.

But other species of blueberry are among the most common plants in well-watered woodlands of the north, starting at about the 38th Parallel and reaching almost to the Arctic Circle. The 38th Parallel, by the way, runs through Novato, so Sonoma County is just north of that latitude.

While our natural Mediterranean climate isn’t suited to the growth of wild blueberries, our warm days, cool nights and irrigation make the west county ideal for growing this crop. Our two main local sources, Duckworth Family Farm and Sebastopol Berry Farm, are both near Sebastopol.

European bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) are a close wild cousin of the North American highbush blueberry, growing mostly in the northern latitudes. The bog bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) is a related species, and millions upon millions of acres of this low-growing shrub that produce delicious blueberry-like bilberries stretch across the circumboreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. A visit to Alaska in July is one long gobble of small wild blueberries growing everywhere.

Until 1916, when Elizabeth White of the New Jersey pine barrens marketed the first cultivated blueberries, they were an entirely wild-harvested crop. Then cultivated varieties began to be offered and blueberry farms began to spring up. Through most of North America, blueberries come ripe in July, but in warmer regions that season will be earlier.

In the winter, most of the blueberries in our stores are imported from Chile or Peru, but California growers use timing techniques and hydroponic culture to provide us with blueberries in late April and May, just before West Coast outdoor-farmed fruit comes ripe.

As for nutritive value, especially the cancer and heart disease-preventing antioxidants that blueberries are noted for, studies show that old varieties closer to the wild species have more nutritional content than modern hybrids. They even have more fruit sugar content, with up to 15% sugar by weight, compared to 10% for most conventional hybrids.

But even the hybrids are nutritional champs. Blueberries contain good amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin C and folic acid. Researchers at the USDA Human Nutrition Center have found that blueberries rank number one in antioxidant activity when compared to 40 other fresh fruits and vegetables.

These antioxidants help neutralize harmful by-products of metabolism called free radicals that can lead to cancer and other age-related diseases. Anthocyanin — the phenolic pigment that makes the blueberries blue — is thought to be responsible for this major health benefit, along with vitamin C. Anthocyanin is also the color component of red wine that seems to convey protective health benefits.

In another USDA lab, neuroscientists discovered that feeding blueberries to lab rats slowed age-related loss in their mental capacity. And blueberries may reduce the buildup of LDL (bad) cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to scientists at University of California, Davis.

Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have identified a compound in blueberries that promotes urinary tract health and reduces the risk of infection. It appears to work by preventing bacteria from adhering to the cells that line the walls of the urinary tract. And a number of studies in Europe have documented the relationship between bilberries and improved eyesight.

A Japanese study concluded that blueberries help ease eye fatigue. In fact, bilberries have even more antioxidant content than hybrid American blueberries, although the American types are still extraordinarily high. It gets back to the point that plants growing naturally are thrifty, their fruits are smaller and more intense and whatever flavor and nutritive treasures they hold may also be concentrated.

When local berries are in season in our area, they’re cheaper, fresher and often organically grown. You can have these organic blueberries all year around if you freeze them. No fruit freezes better than blueberries. Their waxy bloom — the whitish coating on the berries — protects them so they don’t stick together. They freeze in a flash on cookie sheets. When they’re frozen hard, put them in freezer bags. When you thaw them, they’re good for winter fruit compotes, breakfast cereals,or baking in muffins, rather than eating out of hand, because freezing renders them soft and squishy, not firm like when they’re fresh.

If you have a food dehydrator, they can also be dried and used like raisins on cereals and in muffins, scones and pancakes.

Here’s a recipe for blueberry muffins that goes easy on the fat but heavy on the nutrition. Make lots of these and freeze them. Take a couple out of the freezer before you go to bed so they’ll be ready to eat in the morning.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour

¾ cup unbleached white flour

½ cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt

⅓ cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup oat milk

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen organic blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together all dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients, including blueberries. Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, just enough to mix.

Oil muffin tin or line with cupcake papers. Spoon in batter, filling cups two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Jeff Cox is a Kenwood-based food and garden writer. Reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net