No peeling, pitting, slicing or dicing. Blueberries just need a rinse and they’re recipe ready or easy to munch by the handful.

July is officially National Blueberry Month, but if you take advantage of the availability of the fruit in season and carefully freeze the little orbs, you can enjoy them all year long.

Wild blueberries are miniature compared to cultivated varieties

Wild blueberries are abundant in Michigan but are very different than cultivated varieties.

Do you know how tiny the wild ones are? And how long it takes to pick enough for a pie?

Growing up, when mom needed a break from four kids running around—say, a day at the spa—she’d give each of us a five gallon bucket and send us out to the woods around the family cabin in Roscommon to round up the berries, with instructions not to return until the buckets were full.

Okay, I may be remembering it wrong. Mom never wanted to go to a spa and we were equipped with small beach pails and Cool Whip bowls, but filling even those took long enough to give her some nice, well-deserved quiet time.

Life is just a bowl of blueberries

Still, the wild ones are delish and worth the effort. There are some great patches in both the Mitten and the U.P. We have them in the Naubinway area—not that it’s easy to get anyone to share their picking locations. Paradise was once a major supplier of wild blueberries, and celebrates that heritage with a festival each August.

Did you know:

• Michigan is a lead producer of blueberries, growing more than 20 varieties totalling 87 million pounds on about 17,000 acres (2023)
• Most commercial production in Michigan is in the western Lower Peninsula counties of Allegan, Berrien, Muskegon, Ottawa and Van Buren
• The season stretches from mid-July through September
• Blueberries are getting attention for goodness sake: they’re a  sodium-free, low fat, low calorie, vitamin-rich source of fiber and antioxidants

Find u-pick farms at the Michigan Agritourism Association online directory

For more about blueberries, tips and recipes: Michigan Ag Council

2025 Blueberry Festivals in the Great Lakes region include:

• July 25 Downtown Marquette Blueberry Festival, Michigan
• July 25-27 Ely Minnesota Blueberry Art Festival
• July 24-27 Iron River Lions Blueberry Festival, Wisconsin
• August 7-10 National Blueberry Festival, South Haven, Michigan
• August 10-17 Montrose Blueberry Festival, Michigan
• August 14-17 Lexington Blueberry Festival, Ohio
• August 15-17 Wild Blueberry Festival, Paradise, Michigan
• August 29-September 1 Marshall County Blueberry Festival, Plymouth, Indiana

Check out these Gazette recipes for my favorite fruit:

Simple and delish: blueberries and granola

Blueberry Grunt

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Scones

Blueberry Smoothie

Blueberry Streusel Puffs

Finnish Blueberry Yogurt Pie

All stories and photos copyright Kath Usitalo unless otherwise noted