When we moved to Sudbury we heard from co-workers about the wild blueberries that grew throughout and around the city. Then Summer happened and we saw cars parked up and down all the highways leading out of the city, saw people with baskets upon baskets climbing out of bushes on the side of the road. That's when we decided to go on the hunt for some wild blueberries of our own.
We've tried a few different locations in the city, though last Summer proved to be a bad season for the wild blueberries, which led to Sudbury having a bad black bear problem in the city since they didn't have enough berries to eat.
Finally, three years after moving here, we've found a few good places to find wild blueberries. This year we hit the jackpot, especially since the blueberries were larger than we've ever seen. Wild blueberries are tiny in comparison to normal ones you'd find at the grocery store. They also grow only ankle-high instead of being on plants eye-level. It makes for an awkward time picking the wild blueberries a few inches from the ground.
These plants were all over the blueberry patches. I have no idea what it is but they were really tall (maybe 2 feet high) and really pretty.
It's exciting to spot a patch full of all those juicy blueberries.
We came home with 10 cups of blueberries which means I can make 2 pies and have leftovers.
The morning after picking the blueberries I made us pancakes with some of them. They're so incredibly juicy and full of flavour.
I made our first wild blueberry pie earlier this week and I have blueberries in the freezer for a second pie in a couple of weeks.
The recipe I use for fruit pies is super easy:
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup water
4 cups fruit
Directions:
1. In a pot mix sugar and cornstarch together, add water. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
2. Cook for 2 minutes while stirring often.
3. Add your fruit and mix well. Continue cooking mixture for 3-7 minutes. The time depends on how soft the fruit is and how you want your filling - more chunks of fruit or more mushed up.
The pie turned out incredible. The filling was nice and thick and the blueberries are really tasty with the graham cracker crust.
Since we had great luck with our wild blueberry picking during our two hour outing last week, we might try going out again to get more to put in the freezer.
xo Jen
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