What's in Season: Blueberries

Tina Rupp

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Tina Rupp is a professional food photographer who works with Food & Wine Magazine and Weight Watchers and also photographs many cookbooks and national print ads. She is inspired by the changing colors and textures of seasonal ingredients both as a foil for her her camera, as well as inspiration for her baking endeavors in her Old Saybrook home. She shoots with Canon and Hassleblad cameras

Blueberries. You can get them practically year round in any grocery store in the country. We all know that they are often mealy and tasteless. Yet we still buy them, perhaps for their antioxidant power.

But blueberry season is a whole different world. Outside of strawberries, blueberries are the fruit I look forward to the most in summer. The sweet yet tart delicious little nugget of flavor is such an amazing berry to eat straight off the bush, in a pie or cake or crumble, or right out of the freezer and into Sunday morning pancakes.

Maybe my love for blueberries comes from my dad. Growing up minutes from Hammonton, NJ, called the blueberry capital of the World, he picked blueberries for his summer job. He too loves blueberries. Last time he visited, he brought us 12 freshly picked pints (which cost a mere $15!) He still gets giddy when he shows up with such a find. I think before the weekend was through we ate 5 pints.

New to Connecticut, I just find it to be such a thrill to go to a farm and pick your own until your heart's content. Which if it's humid and 85 or more, for me it might only be 10 minutes.  This group of photos was taken with fruit that I picked at beautiful Scott's farm in Deep River.

Where to pick blueberries in Connecticut:

 

 

Have any other great blueberry resources? Please share them in the comments below.