Pick Your Own. A favourite summer holiday activity in our house, once certain minors had got over their disappointment that there are no longer strawberries ripe for the plucking in these here parts.
Luckily the novelty of blueberries won them over and kept everyone happy for a while, until strawberries were soon forgotten, and the challenge of who could get the most in the punnet was underway. Items of clothing were used as makeshift cups and bowls, and illegal berry eating directly off the plants might have taken place once in a while! I won’t tell if you don’t…
We picked blueberries last year in Norway too, but wild ones that were tiny and quite sour. And then the tick incident happened, so no-one apart from me was interested in venturing into the woods again…
But these hung like Christmas baubles, giant blue orbs in comparison, just shouting to be picked and taken home. Quite what we are going to do with 2.3kg of them will need some thinking about on behalf of the Mother Ship however!
There are now thousands safely ensconced in the freezer, but in the meantime we opted to make a blueberry tarte with a few of them, with components plundered from various recipe books. The sweet short crust pastry came from a Jamie Oliver recipe, the creme patissiere was kind of made up by me, so here is a vastly more effective recipe, tried and tested previously, and the blueberry section was simple enough, just pile them on, and paint them with melted red-currant jelly for glossiness if you like… Don’t think I am showing off by making my own custard, it’s a case of needs must, it not being available here and all that, and anyway, it wasn’t a huge success. I blame the milk. The tarte itself also self-combusted when it was taken out of the tin, probably in protest at the prospect of being eaten, so there’s no picture of it in its entirety either, but it tasted nice, and the berry pickers wanted more which means it passed the test….
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You are so lucky – even picking the fruit standing up is better then kneeling down for strawberries. I will bring custard when I come but your tart looks delicious without it!Mx
Thanks Mum. Be careful with that custard, remember what happened in Waitrose… :D xxx
Mmmm I love berries and that tart looks very impressive – even if it is combusted. I came looking for the bears but I guess I’ll have to dig deeper…. going on a bear hunt…
Yep, the best food always looks like a mess, at least it does in our house anyway :D The bears are in Poing! :)
I found the bears. I’d seen them already but was so transfixed by the Bambis I forgot. :)
Easily done :)
save a piece I’m on my way over :)
Still some in the fridge :)
Ooh, just yum!
Thanks Mary! :)
Oh you do take such fabulous photos! I loved these and the ones in your previous post that I’m only spotting now. The blueberries look delicious and your tarte sounds scrummy too :-)
xx Jazzy
Thanks Jazzy… :) xx
Blueberry juice and blueberry jam are in the offing I suspect! At least they aren’t spiny like blackberry bushes…
Blueberry Jam is a distinct possibility! :) Thank you for your comment!
Those are the most amazing looking blueberries! They are one of my favourite fruits, though never seen any so big. Your photos are gorgeous. Love the one of the hands picking the berries…and the tarte, well that looks divine :)
Aw, thank you :)
Those berries are huge. Love the photos – the detail is superb.
By the way, what happened to your mum’s custard in Waitrose??
Thanks Trish… Mum reached for a tub of fresh custard and managed to knock another one off the shelf and it exploded all over her! Combined with the fact she then couldn’t stop laughing, she looked a little odd to say the least… :D
Wow, after our raspberry picking last weekend I am right into PYO and blueberries are my favourite. If I could find somewhere down here looking as lush as yours I would be there and looking up your reciope afterwards! Thank you for linking in with Country Kids.
Thanks Fiona! Maybe you should set aside a little area at Coombemill, the blueberries looked quite easy to grow too :)
Oh my these look fantastic. I’ve never picked blueberries, they come to us in little plastic cartons, so this looks so glamorous! They really do look like Christmas baubles. I’m following the blog now from the Net Mums linky, lots to explore here I see (intrigued by the tick…) kettle’s on!
Thanks for following, will do the same when I am back with a decent internet connection tomorrow, hence the late reply. Sorry about that! :)
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