Blueberries can be used in savory as well as sweet dishes. Try them in salads or as a sauce on pork or salmon. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

Murray Family Farms unveiled their first batch of blueberries for the season at the Bakersfield Farmers' Market this past Saturday. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

By Michelle Beck

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am more than ready for summer vegetables.I am sick of lettuce, and can’t wait to have my first tomato-and-fresh-mozzarella salad. Thank goodness so many great fruits are in season now to save me from my vegetable boredom! Berry season is now in full swing. Two weeks ago I wrote about strawberries and next week I’ll write about cherries and other berries. This week is devoted to the blueberry.

Blueberries not only taste great, but they, along with cherries and other berries, are full of antioxidants. They are extremely versatile, and are good in both sweet and savory recipes.

Although blueberries are thought of as a cooler-weather fruit, varieties have been bred specifically for our hot valley. The season is short, but blueberry shrubs are easy to grow and don’t take up much room. If you love blueberries, you may want to consider adding a plant to your landscaping next year.

At the Bakersfield Farmers’ Market this past weekend, Murray Family Farms was selling their first blueberries of the season. They were selling them for $5 per basket or three for $12. Greg and Susan Tesch plan to also have some on the Tesch Family Farm tables this weekend.

Blueberries for breakfast

Blueberries are native to North America and mix well with another native American food, corn. Cornmeal pancakes are very good with blueberries sprinkled on the batter while cooking. To make gluten-free cornmeal-blueberry pancakes, the Gluten-Free Pantry’s cornbread mix has a recipe for pancakes on the back of the box. Be sure to butter the griddle, however, because cornmeal pancakes are notorious for sticking.

Cornmeal-blueberry muffins are delicious with eggs on a Sunday morning. The Gluten-Free Pantry’s cornbread mix works very well for muffins, also. Just follow the recipe on the back of the box, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a heaping handful of blueberries (to taste). Alternatively, you could use this gluten-free blueberry-corn muffin recipe.

Baking with blueberries

Lemons also go well with blueberries, which makes this gluten-free lemon-blueberry coffee cake a nice addition to brunch.

These lemon and blueberry shortcakes have a little cornmeal in the shortcake and are topped with lemon curd and fresh blueberries. I am determined to find a way to make this gluten-free.I am going to try substituting this multi-blend flour. It is supposed to be able to be substituted at 3/4 cup for 1 cup of regular flour.

These blueberry-lemon crumbles are something like a crisp. According to the reviews, some people had luck making them as a bar cookie – yum!

Blueberry kuchen is somewhat like a pie. It has a shortbread crust, with a layer of blueberries tossed with sugar and cooked, then topped with fresh berries. If you would like to make a blueberry pie, try this recipe.

America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe for the best blueberry muffins ever. They are well worth the extra work.

Blueberry jam

Blueberries are easy to make into jam. I always use Sure-Jell pectin in the pink box. Blueberry jam tends to set up very firmly, and I like a softer set, so I usually cut the sugar by about 1/2 cup to make it softer. I actually prefer blueberry freezer jam to the cooked kind. I use the Ball freezer pectin in the packet, which is found at places like Winco and Albertsons. I like to add a little blueberry freezer jam to plain Greek yogurt for an afternoon snack.

Savory blueberries

Blueberries are also very good in savory recipes. This summer salad with blueberries would be a nice accompaniment to barbecued chicken. I am not a fan of arugula, but other lettuce or spinach can be substituted.

This pork tenderloin with blueberry barbecue sauce would be a great summertime Sunday dinner, as would this grilled salmon with savory blueberry sauce.

Everyday Food on TV

On a non-blueberry note, my favorite cooking reference, Everyday Food Magazine, is also a television show.

It generally airs at 4 p.m. Saturdays on KVPT Channel 18. It does seem to move around the schedule a bit, so if you don’t see it at 4 p.m., just look around. I usually DVR it because Saturday afternoons are busy times for me. The half-hour show usually demonstrates the preparation of three to four different recipes. As with all Everyday Food recipes, the ingredient list is short, the preparation is simple, and nothing is processed.