Allen took the kids and I on a wonderful camping trip recently in the Upper Peninsula, near Manistique. The campsite, the only one on the lake, was lovely and quiet, but, for me, the best part of the weekend was the wild blueberries growing near by.
With a bit of help I managed to bring home 12 lb 9 oz (just under 6 kg) of deliciously sweet berries.
I'd never made jam before (just apple butter,) but wild blueberry jam seemed like a good place to start. I used this recipe. There's a ton of information to sort through on the page, but as a beginner I really appreciated all of her experience.
I crushed, cooked, poured and processed three batches and ended up with 36 eight-ounce jars - just over two gallons of jam! (about 8.5 liters.) And I still have most of a gallon-size zip-lock bag of berries in the freezer.
It was yummy. So much so, that we are heading up to Paradise next week to see if we can pick more. Allen even surprised me with a blueberry rake. I think he's hoping that we'll stock the pantry with blueberry syrup and pie filling, and fill the freezer with berries to enjoy all winter. So, if you know of any good blueberry recipes, please send them my way!
