Link to TheWorld’s Healthiest Foods

Blueberries Morning, Noon and Night

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Frozen blueberries are one of the foods I wrote about in “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating.” These nutrient-rich fruits are available year-round and don’t spoil, and blueberries have been associated with better memory in animal studies.

In this week’s Recipes for Health, Martha Rose Shulman expands on ways to add blueberries to your breakfast, lunch or dinner. She writes:

If red wine is off limits and beets just aren’t your thing, try adding a half cup of blueberries to your cereal or yogurt in the morning, throw a half cup of frozen blueberries into your smoothie — or try any of this week’s recipes.

Blueberry Oatmeal: This oatmeal takes on a purple hue once the blueberries begin to burst, on top of the stove or in the microwave.

Forbidden Rice Pudding With Blueberries: Also known as Chinese black rice, Forbidden rice becomes purple when cooked, which makes this rice pudding with blueberries a colorful treat for breakfast or dessert.

Papaya and Blueberry Salad With Ginger-Lime Dressing: Blueberries, which grow in colder climes, pair well with bright yellow or orange fruits from warm places.

Mango Blueberry Smoothie: This drink is similar to lassi, made tangy with buttermilk or yogurt, mango and a spoonful of lime juice.

Blueberry Yogurt Parfait: This beautiful parfait tastes so much richer than it is and makes a great dessert — or save some for breakfast.

If you think blueberries are good for you, why don’t you try our frozen Always Organic™ wild western mountain Maine “gourmet sourtop” blueberries? They are the only organic blueberries of this variety that you can find, and much healthier for you than any pills.

organic blueberry jam and popovers.

It was Sophie’s idea to make these popovers.

Checking the seal

INGREDIENTS

- 10 pounds of frozen organic wild Maine gourmet “sourtop” blueberries.

- 5 pounds of (organic) sugar. One half the weight of the fruit in sugar with no pectin. We sometimes use sucanat instead.

- 1 lemon, juiced.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook the frozen blueberries stirring frequently and adding no water.

When the blueberries are well heated but not yet boiling add sugar and stir till smooth.

Add the juice from a lemon.

Freeze a few small dishes to test readiness of blueberry jam which is signaled by it’s not running when splashed on the saucer.

If the cooking is sufficient the jam will gel properly.

Enjoy.

And these blueberries are healthy for you also.

Recipe for blueberry griddlecakes

2 cups of flour, 2  teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 1/2 cups of sour milk, buttermilk or regular milk, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 heaping cup of wild low bush organic blueberries. I don’t think you can ever have too many blueberries in a pancake.

Mix egg and milk together and gradually add flour and other dry ingredients mixing thoroughly. Add blueberries last and cook on a hot griddle until brown. Add maple syrup when they are cooked.

Ben Godsoe preparing blueberries for solar drying.

Ben took a three week leave of absence from his job in Vermont at Ben and Jerry’s to experiment with different drying techniques of our blueberries as a fund raising approach for the High Peaks Alliance. Highpeaksalliance.wordpress.com

He dried them at a low temperature so as to not harm their enzyme value.

Blueberry crumble recipe starts with the best blueberries.

Blueberry Crumble Recipe for Organicblueberry.com frozen blueberries.

3 cups of blueberries

1/2 cup sugar          we have substituted sucanat here or organic sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup of butter approximately 3/4 stick

juice of 1 lemon   (optional)

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Put blueberries in buttered baking dish and add a dusting of sugar and the juice of a lemon.

Mix the remaining sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and butter into a crumble (cuisinart does this easily), then sprinkle over blueberries.

Bake in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, about 40 minutes. Serve with heavy cream, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Serves 6. Adapted from Marjorie Mosser Good Maine Food 1974. We reduced sugar from 2/3 to 1/2 cup.