It was in the mid-nineties yesterday on the fourth of July, and we were in desperate need of some refreshment. We were driving home after a fruitless escapade around Lake Ontario to find a speck of beach that wasn't infected with algae. We had stopped at four separate beach locations, each reeking more of the slimy green goo than the last.
Driving home feeling defeated, my mom pointed out a sign exclaiming "Pick-Your-Own Blueberries," and both my grandma and I became excited with the prospect of fresh fruit to munch on. We followed the signs and found ourselves driving down a dirt driveway past a private residence to get to the rows of blueberry bushes. An older man pulled up on his four wheeler and instructed us to follow him down the driveway where we could pick up baskets to collect the berries. Before heading off into the bushes, he made one final remark: "One lady just left because she said it was too hot out here. The sun is brutal..."
We expected to be picking berries for about twenty minutes before filling up a plastic bucket for fifteen dollars. Between us three females we figured we would be done in no time. Forty-five minutes later the bucket was finally getting close to full, but we were all close to having a heat stroke. There was no quitting until we got our money's worth, but by that point we were drenched in sweat and ready for a nap.
Piling back into the car after paying for our harvest, I set a grocery bag full of blueberries in the seat next to me. Gingerly selecting a plump berry from the bag, I popped it into my mouth to savor the delicious sweetness of summer.
I tried another one.
Also sour!
I had to rinse my mouth with water after that one. A wave of disappointment spread through the car as we realized our hard work out in the sun may have been for naught. As soon as we got back to my grandma's house, she rinsed a small bowl of the berries and mixed in a heaping spoonful of sugar. Although the taste was greatly improved, I couldn't help but feel like I was munching on sand when I sampled the sweetened berries.
The next morning I was looking for breakfast at grandma's and I found some blueberries in a plastic container that didn't appear to have any sugar on them. I was going to mix them with some cool whip to sweeten them without adding a sandy texture. As I poured some berries into a dish, I realized that they felt unusually sticky. Tasting one for good measure, the berry was perfectly sweet and juicy with no crunch.
The moral of this story is don't let a bag of sour blueberries get you down. Rinse them, let them sit over night in a sugary mix, and you will have perfectly sweet berries to enjoy the next day.
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| Our handpicked blueberries sitting in a delicious sugary sauce with raspberries and blackberries |
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