True Blue: A Blueberry Primer
July/August 2007
By Kristina Hjelsand
Roald Dahl immortalized blueberries as a cautionary tale for unmindful children (and their parents) everywhere in the children’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: When turbo-charged terror Violet Beauregarde ignores Willy Wonka’s warning not to try his prototype for a three-course-meal gum, she turns into a giant blueberry and is promptly rolled off to be juiced, lest she might explode.
Apart from this piece of psychedelic-inspired pop culture, there are few friendlier, more healthful fruits than the humble blueberry. Blueberries have been frequently cited as a boon to health. Packed with antioxidants, researchers have claimed blueberries defend against everything from cancer to heart disease and even Alzheimer’s Disease.
In the U.S., blueberries conjure images of Maine, which produces 25 percent of the world’s harvest. But blueberries are also a significant crop in the Southeast 9,000 acres of them, to be exact, including a growing number of organic acres in cultivation.
According to Gerard Krewer, a horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, there are two varieties of blueberries that grow in Georgia: highbush and rabbiteye. The highbush variety is popular with growers because they mature quickly and the berries command higher prices. But organic producers prefer the rabbiteye variety, which is easier to grow using organic methods.
While there is usually a bounty of Georgia blueberries each summer beginning in May, particularly unmerciful weather conditions for Southeastern farmers in the first six months of 2007 included a spring freeze that dashed hopes for a bumper blueberry crop this year.
Burns Best Farm in Ringgold, Georgia, known for its ripe and juicy organic berries, was one of many regional farms to lose nearly its entire blueberry crop.
“Our berries, unfortunately, did not fare any better than the others here in north Georgia,” says Denise Burns. We purchased 40 or so replacement plants a few weeks before the freeze and fortunately had not gotten around to putting them in the ground. We covered them successfully and they will be the only blueberries we get this summer, but there won’t be enough to sell.”
Krewer says that while 75 percent of the rabbiteye variety, including those grown organically, was lost in the freeze, chefs and consumers can still look forward to enjoying local Georgia blueberries this summer. Seventy-five percent of the 1,500-acres growing highbush in the state matured to harvest.
Connie Horner, of Horner Farms in Homerville, Georgia, says their farm was fortunate not to lose a single berry this year, but that frost protection is always a concern.
“We decided to purchase a wind machine rather than using overhead water to protect our berry plants,” says Horner. “Using the overhead water method poses multiple problems. For example, you have to use a fungicide with repeated use, and because we’re organic, we didn’t want to do that. A wind machine protects both the green and the blue berries with lower risk.”
At the Horner’s farm, a single new wind machine successfully safeguarded all of the bushes except some behind a hoop house that the machine couldn’t reach.
Still, the freeze has undeniably diminished supply of local Georgia blueberries this year, leaving chefs, retailers and consumers to savor a supply that may be limited, but is nonetheless sweet.
“We still have plenty of blueberries, just fewer local blues than we normally would get,” says John Walker, produce coordinator for Whole Foods Market South Region. “A small crop from Georgia came in, followed by North Carolina berries, and toward the end of the season they’ll be coming in from Michigan. It’s always our first priority to buy locally, but in this case it’s been such a tough season for the farmers and their crops that we won’t have many Georgia berries.”
Even when nature is in relative harmony with agricultural production, for organic producers, the smallest details require scrupulous, and ongoing, attention.
Smaller growers like Burns Best use a hand-picked harvest process rather than mechanized harvesting, and like other producers that are committed to the ideals of sustainable agriculture, they tend the soil quality as carefully and thoughtfully as the county fair’s champion pie baker blends his or her prize-winning crust.
“Blueberries thrive in a very acidic soil,” says Mike Burns. “We spend a lot of time and money making sure irrigation is in place during dry periods, and bushes are treated with only organic fertilizer that has the proper balance of nutrients,” says Burns. “We also use aged pine bark mulch, which provides much needed acidity and organic matter to the plants.”
Mike and Denise have come to the realization that there is a real movement for chefs, food industry professionals and consumers to gain closer relationships with their suppliers, especially suppliers with unique products. While not certified organic, the Burns are members of the Certified Naturally Grown farm network and follow the same farming practices detailed by the USDA organic program.
“The best way to know how your farmer grows the food you buy is to know the farmer and tour the operation, see the labels on what amendments and products are applied, that sort of thing,” says Denise Burns. “It matters to some people that we’re not certified organic, but most folks don’t seem to be bothered by it after I tell them how we handle the plants and soil.”
Renowned Atlanta pastry chef Kathryn King of Aria is one of many chefs in the region to be inspired by the blueberry’s myriad possibilities. Chef Drew Van Leuvan loves how blueberries enhance a variety of summer dishes. “Blueberries inspire wonderfully innovative fruit sauces,” says Van Leuvan. “Nothing equals fruit for versatility, and the surreal color and flavor of fresh blueberries is hard to beat.”
Another well-known Atlanta chef, Micah Willix of Ecco, is also fond of showcasing the blueberry’s simple charms on his menu. “One of my favorite desserts is our blueberry sorbet,” says Willix. “It’s light and refreshing, but has a surprising depth of flavor.”
Mike and Denise Burns say that interest in their berries (while they lost their blueberry crop, they are hopeful that their ripening blackberry bushes will soon be hanging heavy with fruit) points to a genuine and growing interest among people who aren’t in the agriculture or food service industries but want to know where their food is coming from.
“People instinctively know that a fresh, locally grown fruit or vegetable tastes better than one that has been shipped in from across the country. “I think every chef should make it a goal to get to know a farmer or market grower who grows produce within 100 miles of their restaurant,” Burns suggests.
Burns Best Farm and Horner Farms are two of 102 producers in Georgia Organics’ just released 2007-2008 Local Food Guide, which also includes restaurants, retailers and other supporters of local, seasonal and organic food (visit www.georgiaorganics.org for a link to the guide).
Kristina Hjelsand is the founder and owner of Kitchen Communications, an Atlanta communications consultancy that specializes in food and lifestyle brands.
