As the summer season draws to a close, I’m finally ready to share the details of my little summer romance. I have been obsessed with blueberries. I don’t quite know why the attraction is so strong, but in the heat of the summer I could be found haunting the farmers markets of the asphalt jungle, looking for pints of perfectly round blue spheres.
The obsession becomes so strong that I buy four (expensive) pints at the market on a Wednesday morning and bake a blueberry tart that night (recipe found here). Yes, I bake, on a weeknight. The method includes a crust pressed into the tart pan, and a quick blueberry compote, with fresh berries scattered on top of the tart. Although I share some of the tart, I must admit I eat most of it myself. Color me bloated blue.
The obsession then evolves from hoarding blueberries at the market to picking them myself.
When Dorothy and Company arrive at Oz, everyone is seeing emerald green. On a recent trip to Patty’s Berries & Bunches in Mattituck, Long Island, everything seems to shimmer berry blue.
I pick in the heat of the day. The sweat runs down my back and the rows of berries seem to stretch on into infinity.
I flash freeze the berries on a tray, and use some for a blueberry cobbler (recipe found here) served when Susan “The Food Blogga,” Jeff and Rosemary come for dinner. My teeth take on a shade of midnight blue - my berry badge of honor.
The remaining berries are precious gems that I dole out judiciously. Some are added to a Blueberry Lemon Bundt cake (recipe found here). The berries rupture within the batter while baking and each slice of cake looks like a blueberry Rorschach test.
There are just a few left in the freezer and now, as the summer prepares to fade into memory, I am feeling a bit blue. The final few will likely be blended into smoothies, a frosty reminder of the summer past and my trip to blueberry bountiful.
©2011 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved
