Growing up on the farm in North Carolina, we loved picking berries right off the bushes.
We picked blueberries that we called huckleberries or blackberries that we called briar-berries.
I only grew up in the summer – there are no fun stories about winter. My nephew Barney and I would get on our bicycles and go as far away as five miles, all on dirt roads. The only mishap would be a good case of red bugs (town folks called them chiggers) but they are miserable by either name.
Mother would make jams, pies, cobblers and ice cream with these wonderful wild berries. The blueberries that grew wild around here were small, low-bush berries and they grew in the edge of the woods. The blackberries grew in the ditches and sadly, I never see them anymore. I don’t see the wild blueberries either, so I planted some in my yard by an old pine tree stump.
The blueberry bushes that we have here at Big Mill are the high-bush variety, reaching way over my head. Each year I position a step ladder in amongst the bushes and leave it there for the entire season. I also place Earl, an inflatable snake in the bushes too. His job is to deter some of the birds. Fat chance! He does scare Big Mill B&B guests sometimes.
The blueberry is native to North America and they are one of only a few blue foods on all the earth. This tiny berry is gaining respect among folks who want to stay healthy, since it is a great source of antioxidants.
Ingredients
- 4 pints blueberries fresh
- Zest & Juice 1 Lemon
- 7 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon butter to reduce foaming
- 6 ounces Certo liquid pectin
- 7-8 half pint jars with lids and rings
Instructions
- Put half the berries (2 pints) Blueberries in cooking pot and crush the berries to make juice.
- Stir in remaining 2 pints berries and lemon juice and zest.
- Add sugar and butter and bring to a full, rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Pay careful attention to the pot, it will boil over in a heartbeat.
- When berries reach the full, rolling boil, add the pectin. Stir for 1 minute
- Remove from heat and ladle into jars.
- Follow canning instruction. You will have 7 half pints.
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Blueberries are good for you…Isn’t it great that they taste so good?
Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Williamston, NC 252-792-8787 www.bigmill.com
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