# 252: Blueberries are Summer's Last Hurrah

A memory of my favorite blueberry ice cream, and blueberry books, blueberry tunes, and recipes for blueberry pie, blueberry glacé and blueberry corncakes to celebrate the last weeks of summer!

I love blueberries and today you’ll find three of my fav recipes (paid subscribers) that use them-Blueberry Pie, Blueberry Glacé and Blueberry Corncakes the later of which I just had for breakfast this morning and oh they were soooo good. Having lived on a 10-acre blueberry farm back in the mid-90s, IMHO blueberries are one of the best fruits around plus they are high in antioxidants. I found ways to include blueberries at breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!

Registration for the final three 2024 virtual classes in the year long Bake with Kate series is now open, too! October: Apple Pandowdy, November: Sweet Potato Pie, and December: Mocha Bavarian Cream Pie are coming your way so get your tickets now!

Paid Subscribers be sure to save the date for the How To Make A Fruit-filled Crostata virtual demonstration session on at 8AM Pacific/11AM Eastern September 13th.

Now on to Blueberries!

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Blueberries

Yes, from the time I tasted them, I have loved blueberries. That started with my first bite of blueberry ice cream. It wasn’t just any old blueberry ice cream either. The original McConnell’s ice cream store in Santa Barbara was just one block up the street from my dad’s mortuary (we lived right next door) and occasionally on a warm evening after dinner we—mom and dad, me and my brother—would stroll up there for a scoop of what I still think of as the best ice cream in the world. My mom and dad chatted with the owners—My, aren’t the kids growing? What grade are you in now, honey? My dad would get a scoop of rocky road, my mom had a scoop of dark double Dutch chocolate, my brother had macadamia nut and then it was my turn to order.

Now, my usual was a scoop of chocolate chip but as blue was then and still is my favorite color, one day out of the…blue…I asked for a scoop of blueberry more because of “blue” in the name then anything else. Back in the day, the serving size was a small round scoop of dark purple placed on top of a sugar cone. Purple? Not blue? Shouldn’t it be called purpleberry? I tasted it and, at the risk of offending those in the food writing community who say that “yum” is an overused and trite word, my six-year old self thought it was Yummy! I licked it all over trying to catch every last drip some of which landed on my chin. The butterfat was so high that it coated the roof of my mouth, too. When my mom told me that my tongue was purple I ran right into the bathroom when we got home, stood on the little wooden stool in front of the sink and stuck out my tongue to see purple reflected back to me in the mirror.

It’s not blue it’s purple! Shouldn’t it be called purpleberry?

McConnell’s is still in business in Santa Barbara, although its original location is now home to a restaurant that I’ve been to for breakfast on more than one occasion when I go for a visit to my beloved hometown. Their website shows McConnell’s locations all over Southern California now. I guess the word got out about how good their ice cream is. The biggest surprise, for me, came last weekend when I stopped in at my local farm store and saw pints of their ice cream in the freezer section! It’s often been said that with time and patience everything comes to the Olympic Peninsula and I guess the time has come for a bit of my hometown to show up here!

P.S. Next up in our alphabet series is Q and I’m curious if you might take a guess at what I’ll be writing about.

What I’m Reading

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

A favorite of young and old alike.

Did you know there’s a Blueberries for Sal Cookbook just full of blueberry recipes inspired by the book?

What I’m Listening To

On Blueberry Hill

This song, published in 1940 was first recorded by Sammy Kaye. Other verisions are Gene Autry’s (1941) also known as “The Singing Cowboy,” Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Ray Eberle singing (1940), Louis Armstrong (1949), and one of the most known and loved versions by Fats Domino (1956).

Blueberry Recipes

• Blueberry Pie

  

• Blueberry Glacé

  

• Blueberry Corncakes

  

Recipe: Blueberry Pie

What You Will Need