Red White and Buckets of Blueberries

You might find this surprising, but one of my favorite activities is picking things... not my cuticles or scabs... but fruit and flowers etc. At Furman, Price and I made a point to pick apples at Sky Top Orchard near Ashville every fall. For the past three or four summers, I have taken great delight in picking blueberries at a farm in nearby Nesbit, Mississippi.

Nesbit Blueberry Plantation is about a twenty minute drive from Memphis. It is just as it should be, a small farm house and a pond with acres of blueberry bushes. You arrive, grab your bucket, tie it around your waist for easy pickin' if you are so inclined, and hit the fields. You have two options, pick your own gallon for $11 (a STEAL considering you pay around $3 for a tiny half cup in the store) or you can purchase pre-picked berries for $16. I enjoy the process of picking my own and tasting them as I go. It is definitely best to go in the morning before it gets too hot. I always bring a friend along and it always ends up being a sweet time of conversation and catching-up. Thanks, K Ray, for coming along this year! Of course, with a gallon of blueberries at home you gotta get your recipes out and start cooking before they go bad. I froze half of mine this year, but still was able to make blueberry muffins, 2 cobblers, and eat blueberries on my cereal every day for a week. The season for blueberries is short. I think we have about a week left, so head out to the field if you get a chance and call me if you want a buddy!


If you are looking for a FAB blueberry muffin recipe, try this one. A little time-consuming but SO worth it. I packaged them up and gave them as 4th of July treats to friends and family.

America's Test Kitchen Best Blueberry Muffins

Lemon Sugar Topping

* 1/3 cup sugar
* Zest from one lemon (about 1 ½ teaspoons)

Muffins

* 2 cups fresh blueberries
* 1 1/8 cups sugar, plus one teaspoon
* 2 ½ cups AP flour
* 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon table salt
* 2 large eggs
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
* ¼ cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Stir the sugar and zest together until combined; set aside.

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to bowl and cool to room temperature, 10-15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds (remember, 80 strokes). Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be very lumpy with spots of dry flour; do not overmix!

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound, pushing it below the surface. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, about 17-19 minutes, rotating muffin tin (front to back) halfway through cooking time. Cool muffins in tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 more minutes before serving.