The Divine Vaccinium

The sweetest orb, and finest fruit

That ever sprang up from the root;

Wild of branch, on forest floors,

Among the ledges in taller hedges,

Or between rocks, low and clustered flocks.

Untamed by hand, but cultivated by God.

To climb the mount, stretch out the hand

And gather the bounty from the land.

Not just one, but by the handful.

Look around, there's a whole land full

Of them, covering the summit.

Warm from the sun and tight with juice,

Which squirts when pressed between the tooth.

Oh the blueberry! O the Joy!

A whole sky, a whole mountain, the whole earth,

All distilled to one small ball,

One indigo ornament.

Not one. A mouthful. A bucketful.

A belly full, with stained lips

And a tongue dyed with their glory.

Until you have gathered wild blueberries,

And shoveled them into your mouth,

So that they explode into your brain,

On a mountain

in July...

Your life is an empty, dry and flavorless proposition.

Blueberries Bottled

While living in Wisconsin, we were introduced to a nice little custom. Some people gather cherries, preferably Door County cherries, and place them in a bottle filled with brandy (or some other strong spirit) with a little sugar and perhaps some spices. This bottle then is closed and allowed to sit for several months so that the cherries are completely steeped and the liquor takes on a delightful mellow sweet cherry flavor. The concoction is called Cherry Bounce and is very simple to make and quite delightful on a cold winter night.

A few weeks ago my bride and I were talking about this, and started thinking about how we could do this with a more local spin. We live in NH, so cherries are not that common. We also live about 5 minutes from a blueberry farm, where we go several times a year in season to pick a pile of the lovely luscious blue globes. Well, you can see where this is all going now, can’t you?

A few minutes spent looking up recipes on the internet, an hour spent picking about 20 lbs. of fresh blueberries this afternoon (a perfect New England September day), another hour or two picking out stems, leaves, bad berries and spiders. Now this evening we shall put up the liqueur. I’ll let you know in a couple months how it turns out.

Also, we are trying to think of a proper name. Blueberry Bounce is adequate, but lacks originality. Blueberry Cordial sounds sophisticated but very serious. Hmmmm…have to think about it.