Maine Early July: Any Blueberries Yet?

[LJS]

We are off to our annual holiday on Cape Rosier (Brooksville, Blue Hill, Ellesworth are nearby towns, if you are trying to get your bearings) next week for the first two weeks of July.

Should I both bringing my pie pan and tapioca so I can make my traditional blueberry pie while 'in camp'? It seems to have been a very wet spring without a lot of sun, which usually means early July is just too early for picking.

[Brookiehurricane]

I was able to purchase a pint ($4.95) of native blueberries a H B Provisions store in Kennebunkport this morning. They were the tiny wild Maine berries that we come to love and cherish.

[jspear]

Is there really any other kind worth eating????

[LJS]

Well, only one other kind: I lived for a while in Western Newfoundland and folks there took us blueberry picking in mid-September (its way north) and we spent 4 hours in the most magnificent wilderness I have ever seen along an old abandoned logging road.

A moose strolled by, birds came right up close and we saw a family of foxes...we picniced by a little stream and boiled up Labrador tea from these minty leaves and tiny white berries that we picked as well.

We came home with (I kid you not) a big cooler FULL of tiny wild berries. The locals don't even wash them, they are so clean and far from any pollution. I admit I did wash mine, and froze them on cookie sheets and popped them into freezer bags. I will remember this as long as I live.

Failing a trip to the wildnerness of Newfoundland, I DO think that wild Maine blueberries are the best thing going!

[jspear]

amen, we would pick for hours behind our cottage at the coast and my gramma would bake a pie and the best muffins I ever ate, like little pound cakes. she would only bake with fresh from the yard berries.

[Passadumkeg]

Ours in Ellsworth area are still green. Did find a couple of gifted and talented omega female early bloomers. Used to pick them on the coast of Norway. Isn't that near Labrador?

[LJS]

Just topping for those who were kind enough to comment. Got back yesterday with blueberry stains still on my jeans. We went up our favourite hillside right on the Cape (Rosier) and picked wild blueberries (yes, they do tend to ripen earlier than the domestic field product which were not on sale in the stores yet...these required some careful hand picking as opposed to the blueberry 'rake'). Both pies and crisps were on the menu at our cabin. Its going to be an amazing crop according to the locals!

[BikeToEat]

There was a blast of warm weather, finally just before the 4th and the blueberries seemed to ripen very quickly after that. So I am glad that they were there for your trip. They seem to be very early this year. Each year I hear people saying this. Must be global warming and the overall trend of many plants pushing their growth cycles earlier. The flowering on the blueberries this spring was amazingly bountiful and thus the bumper crop that is predicted for the season.

[NJcook]

Cape Rosier! My cat Moxie is from Cape Rosier! As to bluebrries, way to early in the beginning of July. Enjoy your trip

[LJS]

Thank you all for info!

[brucekc]

Their not ready until August! You can go to Allen's Blueberry factory in Penobscot Me
on route 15 for frozen But I would go to Merrill & Hinckley in Blue Hill for Pies, their
made every morning... get there early ...better yet order one a day ahead. you will
be thanking me when you get back! Merrill& Hinckey's number is 207-374-2821

[delong99]

Too early for blueberries, but it'll be the tail end of strawberry season.

[jspear]

blueberry season in Maine is late July, early August, we are part time residents and picked for my Gramma's pie and muffins then.....Too early now for anything but maybe some high bush types, not small, maine ones....

[BikeToEat]

On MDI the blueberries are still green and hard. I don't think they will be ready until the end of July.

[annaschauffler]

Last year, I was unable to go blueberry picking because I was in labor for a couple days. That was the first of August. Now, our picking spot is on top of a mountain in full sun, so I bet that peak ripeness would be around the same time frame for the coast. The bushes in our woods have green berries now, so, then again, it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring your pan and tapioca, although don't get hopes up. It is more temperate on the coast, though...

[littlej]

I am in VT and it is strawberry season which just barely started. Blueberries typically are not ready till Aug, maybe end of July.Since where you are going is farther north, most likely they will not be ready.