things to do: maryland berry picking

It was 105 degrees Saturday, which would've been the perfect day to lock ourselves up inside the house and eat ice cream and while watching Netflix on the couch all day. Alas, we did not do that. Tony had planned to take me berry picking for my birthday, which just happened to fall during the heat wave, and not even a little sweat (OK, a lot of sweat) was going to get in the way. 

First stop: Butler's Orchard in Germantown, which is about 45 minutes from D.C. We got there just before the 8:30 opening to avoid the worst of the heat. Tony and I drove into the farm and parked, and a tractor shuttled us to the pick-your-own blueberry fields with all of the other pickers. 

Blueberries appear to be the big draw at Butler's, and the fields were teeming with pick-your-own laborers. The farm ran like a well-oiled machine, workers directed us to the tractor shuttle, directed us to the rows with the best picking, assigned us blueberry bushes from which to pick. I felt kind of like I belonged in a John Steinbeck novel.

As you may recall, I have made enemies with local birds after they ate my strawberries. I asked one of the workers how they keep birds away from their berries, and he told me they installed squawk boxes, which make loud noises the birds don't like. Seems like the perfect idea for a large-scale farm, but installing a squawk box would not be very neighborly of me, as we live so close to our neighbors.

Anyway, we then drove ourselves through the farm to the less-popular blackberry bushes, which we had pretty much to ourselves. About 20 seconds after I had popped a blackberry into my mouth, Tony said: "Um, don't eat any of these until we wash them." I looked over, and he was pulling the remnants of a bug out of his mouth, having just eaten an overripe berry covered in bugs. So that was gross. But he lived.

Also fun: pick-your-own flower fields:

Tony packed us a picnic lunch, which we ate in the car, as it was, you know, 105 degrees. And we then headed over to Homestead Farm a few miles away in Poolesville, where we picked our own peaches.

The house I grew up in had a peach tree in the backyard, so this farm brought back some memories. We had a lab, Pepper, and peach season was the best time of year for her: a steady stream of peaches, or "balls," would fall off the tree for her to play with. We said she lived so long because of all the peaches she ate in her life.

I'm pretty sure Tony chose to take me to this particular peach farm because they let you pet their farm animals: goats, chickens, sheep, cows. And this baby pygmy goat, which might be the cutest farm creature of all time.

We paid $2.49 a pound for the berries and $1.79 a pound for the peaches, but it was more about the experience than the cost. And I think we'll be having more pick-your-own produce adventures, especially in the fall when apples and pumpkins are ready!

Some of the blueberries and blackberries went into freezer jam that I made Sunday. And the rest of the berries and peaches are in the freezer, waiting to be turned into pies.

recipe: blueberry & blackberry jam

I came home from berry picking Saturday with pounds and pounds of blackberries and blueberries. (More on our adventures in berry picking tomorrow.) I froze most of the berries, but I saved some to make jam.

Tony's grandma and aunt make gobs and gobs of jelly every year, and it's always fantastic. But making jelly -- real jelly -- is a process that involves turning your kitchen into a mini chemistry lab and requires jars to be sanitized, fruit to be cooked, and packed jars to be boiled to prevent spoilage. 

So I skipped about 75 steps and made freezer jam instead, which turned out quite well. At first I was disappointed because it was not as thick as traditionally jelly, but it thickened perfectly overnight. The big difference between freezer jam and traditional jelly is that you can store freezer jam in the fridge short-term or in the freezer long-term -- but you can't store it in the pantry. 

Here's breakfast with the blueberry freezer jam: 

Freezer Jam

• 1 2/3 cups mashed blueberries OR blackberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons instant pectin

Use a potato masher to crush the berries until you have 1 2/3 cups.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and instant pectin. 

Add berries to sugar mixture and stir for three minutes. Let set for 30 minutes. Each batch makes two half-pints, which can be refrigerated for three weeks or frozen for a year. 

recipe: blueberry muffins

Of all my recipes, I have a select few that I don't think I ever need to improve upon. Strawberry pie, for example. Whenever I see a recipe for strawberry pie in a cookbook or online, I skip right over it -- my grandma's recipe is perfect already. Same goes with chocolate cake. If I already have the recipe for the best chocolate cake ever, why would I need to try any other recipe for chocolate cake? 

Now I can add blueberry muffins to that list. Whenever I make blueberry muffins -- from now until I'm a little old lady -- I think I'll be using this recipe. I tried out this recipe, adapted from America's Test Kitchen, a few weeks ago. I brought them to my in-laws' house in Ohio a few weeks ago to offer for breakfast during the weekend of my brother-in-law's wedding. My father-in-law, who's not an easy man to impress when it comes to desserts, ate two. I take that as a compliment.  

This isn't the simplest recipe out there, but all the steps definitely are worth it.

Blueberry Muffins

Streusel topping

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• pinch of salt
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Muffins

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest 
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice plus 1/2 cup regular milk and let sit 5 minutes) 
• 2 cups flour 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries 

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin tin. 

Combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle butter and toss with fork to mix. 

Whisk egg, then add vanilla, sugar, and lemon zest. Whisk 30 seconds. Whisk in butter and buttermilk. 

Set aside 1 tablespoon flour. Mix remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold egg mixture into flour mixture. 

Toss blueberries with 1 tablespoon reserved flour. Fold blueberries into batter. (ATK recommends using frozen blueberries in this recipe and keeping them in the freezer until the last minute to prevent blue bleeding into the batter. I used fresh blueberries, and they worked perfectly.) 

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Pat the streusel bits onto the top of each muffin. To keep things neat, use your free hand to form a wall around each cup as you pat the streusel in. 

Bake on the center rack, 22 minutes (or up to 28 minutes) until only few crumbs remain on toothpick. Cool muffins in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12 muffins. 

Happy National Blueberry Month!

<3

From the archives: 

recipe: pancakes

recipe: brigadeiros

entertaining: berries and brunch

The beauty of Sunday's brunch was its simplicity. Granola with Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries and strawberries. Hard boiled eggs. Raspberry lemonade. Tony and I woke up Sunday morning, put everything in serving bowls, and, voila, instant brunch with Camille and Matt. 

The raspberry lemonade was the only homemade part of the brunch. It's pink, which is fun. And it's a nice summer drink, a good combo of sweet and tart. 

Raspberry Lemonade

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 ounces raspberries
• 8 lemons
• 4 cups water

Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan, and heat on low until sugar dissolves, making a simple syrup. Cool. 

Puree raspberries in a food processor. Strain the berries to separate out the seeds. Discard the seeds. 

Juice the lemons.

Combine simple syrup, raspberry puree, and lemon juice in a large pitcher. Add 4 cups water. Chill and serve over ice.