by Anna Nelson – Blueberry season starts this week. I look forward to this every year. It’s not a huge event. No fireworks. Just a quiet shift where the berry bins fill up and stay full for a little while, and suddenly summer feels real in a way it didn’t the week before.
This year it’s coming in early. Blueberries usually run through August around here. This year, it sounds like we’ll be done by the middle of the month instead. So don’t wait on this one. The window’s short, and it’s shorter than normal.
We’ve carried berries from these two farms for a while now, but we’ve never really introduced them. Feels like time to fix that.
Valentine Blueberries Comes First
Valentine Blueberries is usually the first to harvest. Their season only lasts about three weeks, so it moves fast. Blink and you’ll miss part of it.
Their berry is called The Duke, and it’s a big one. Noticeably bigger than what you’re used to seeing in a regular pint from the grocery store. You bite into one and it’s an actual bite, not just a pop. Juicy, a good snap to the skin, and enough size that you don’t need a handful to get a real mouthful of flavor.
I eat these mostly plain. A bowl of yogurt, a few Dukes on top, maybe a little honey if I’m feeling it. Or just standing at the counter eating them straight out of the container, which is honestly how a good chunk of my blueberries disappear every year before they ever make it into a recipe. There’s something about a berry that big that makes you want to taste it on its own before you turn it into anything else.
If you do want to bake with them, keep it simple so the berry stays the star. A plain muffin with just a touch of lemon zest works well. Or fold a handful into pancake batter right before it hits the griddle, so you get pockets of warm, bursting fruit instead of berries that sink to the bottom of the bowl.
Then Twin Creek Ranch Takes Over
Right as Valentine’s wraps up, Twin Creek Ranch picks up the season with their Bluecrop blueberries. It’s a smaller berry than The Duke, but don’t count it out. Bluecrop is a classic variety for a reason. Sweet, a little tart, exactly what you picture when someone says the word blueberry. It’s the kind of berry that tastes like blueberry flavoring is supposed to taste, if that makes sense, except it’s the real thing.
Twin Creek’s season runs longer than Valentine’s, usually four to six weeks. That’s a good stretch of time. Enough to get through a lot of pancakes, a cobbler or two, some smoothies, and probably a pie if you’re feeling ambitious. Bluecrop holds up to all of it without asking for much. It’s not fussy. It just works, week after week.
This is the variety I lean on for cooking, honestly, more than eating out of hand. The size makes them easier to fold into batter without turning everything purple, and the flavor holds up even after they’ve been baked or simmered down into a sauce. A simple blueberry compote, just berries, a splash of water, a little sugar, and a squeeze of lemon, cooked down until it thickens, is one of the easiest things you can make and one of the most useful. Spoon it over yogurt, pancakes, oatmeal, even a slice of pound cake. It keeps in the fridge for a week or so, which makes weekday breakfasts feel a little more put together without any extra work once it’s made.
If you want to see what these farms look like or catch harvest updates, Valentine Blueberries is on Facebook here: Valentine Blueberries FB page. Twin Creek Ranch is here: Twin Creek Ranch Blueberries FB page. Worth a follow if you like seeing where your food actually comes from, not just reading about it after the fact.
Buy a Little Extra While They’re Here
Since this season’s shorter than usual, it’s worth thinking a week or two ahead instead of just grabbing a pint here and there as you think of it.
Blueberries freeze really well, and it barely takes any effort. Spread them out on a tray so they’re not touching, freeze until solid, then dump them into a bag or container. That’s the whole process. Come January, when nothing local is in season and the produce aisle is full of berries that traveled a long way to get there, you’ll have a bag of these instead. Frozen local blueberries in a winter batch of pancakes or a smoothie still beat whatever’s been shipped in from who knows where.
If you’ve got a free afternoon this week or next, it’s also a good time to make a jam or put together a crisp you can freeze unbaked. Nothing complicated. Berries, a bit of sugar, some lemon juice, an oat topping if you like one. Bake it straight from the freezer later and just give it a few extra minutes in the oven. Future you, on some gray day in November, is going to be very glad present you did this.
There’s something about buying a season’s worth of fruit in a short window that feels different from just picking up a pint on a whim. It ties you to the calendar a little. You start to notice when things shift, when one farm’s harvest tapers off and another one starts picking up. That’s the kind of thing you only really notice when you’re buying direct from small farms instead of a grocery chain where every berry looks the same no matter the month.
Valentine first, Twin Creek right behind them, blueberries here through about mid-August. That’s the whole season this year. Not long, but it’s ours, and it’s worth building a few meals, and maybe a few freezer bags, around it while it lasts.
Anna Nelson is a writer and editor based in Smith River, CA. She writes about local food and seasonal shifts and is a proud OtterBee’s shopper and contributing author to the OtterBee’s Market blog.
