Blueberry Picking Adventures

I have lived in north Idaho for 20 years, yet this was the first year I sallied forth to pick blueberries! I had been aware of a few u-pick blueberry patches in the area, but had never acquainted myself with them. Last Monday I discussed this with @generikat as we drove to Riley Creek Blueberry Farm near Laclede, ID. I realized that in the past I was always busy making pickles, canning green beans, freezing corn, picking raspberries, and keeping up with the zucchini crop during blueberry season. This year I have a very small garden with no green beans or corn, and not enough cucumber plants to make pickles. And @generikat has picked at least half the raspberries for me. All of which means I finally had time to pick blueberries!

I was impressed by the abundance of berries in that patch. All I had to do was sit in the shade of those healthy bushes and pick and pick and pick without moving more than a few feet. It sure beats picking wild huckleberries, which usually involves driving at least an hour on poorly-maintained logging roads 'way up in the mountains and then scrambling up and down steep hillsides searching for the occasional cluster of tiny huckleberries. Instead, in just two hours of relative comfort I had two nice buckets full of plump, juicy blueberries.

image credit

I didn't think to take a photo while I was there, so borrowed this one off their Facebook page.

Home again, I rinsed and sorted my berries, putting most of them into freezer bags. I kept enough out for a batch of freezer jam, and blueberry pancakes. I also decided to make blueberry muffins, and that is when the humorous part of this tale began. I had about a cup of shredded zucchini left over from the latest chocolate zucchini cake, and thought it would probably work well to add that to my muffin batter. Now, I am not normally an adventurous and inventive cook. I have often been told I am a good cook, but that is because I get good recipes from good cooks and other reliable sources and stick to them! I rarely play with a recipe, certainly not the first time I make it. But there I was, daringly adding zucchini to my blueberry muffins. (If @gringalicious or @generikat is reading this, either of them must be laughing her head off by this time!)

At least I had the presence of mind to take one photo of the mixing process!

The finished product looked and smelled wonderful. But when I tasted one, I realized I had completely forgotten to add the sugar to the recipe. Oops. Since there are two family members with blood sugar issues, I normally make low-sugar baked goods, so the complete lack of sweetener was not as startling as it might have been. Oddly enough, they still tasted fairly decent! And they have been getting eaten. So all was not lost!

Today I plan to make raspberry shortcake using the last picking of raspberries, and there will be sugar involved!