Blueberry season is here, and you can pick your own
With organic blueberry prices through the roof, it’s time to get down to earth at a fruit farm near you
Affordable and fun
The only downside is that they can be pricey, even when they’re in season. The solution: picking your own. Not only is it affordable, it’s also fun, and the season starts in mid-July.
On a warm summer day last year, I made the trip out to Blueberry Fields, an organic farm located in the Kempen, just north of Hasselt, where the damp, low-lying ground is ideal for growing these fruit-bearing bushes native to North America. They’ve been growing blueberries there, without pesticides, for over 30 years.
At the entrance to the farm, we received plastic buckets and were told to follow the signs to the pick-your-own field, which rotates according to which bushes are ripe at any given time. Once we arrived at the designated field, another farm worker directed us to the row of fruit we’d be plucking.
It didn’t take us long to get the hang of picking the tiny, round berries, but I now know why they cost so much in the grocery store. It’s fiddly work, and there’s a fair amount of hunting under leaves and reaching into bushes to get to the fruit.
In less than an hour, though, we had filled up our buckets, which each held between three and four kilos of blueberries. Back at the farm store, the buckets were weighed, and we paid the current wholesale price, which was around €5 per kilo. Whatever I couldn’t eat in the next couple of days went into the freezer, to be used throughout the year.
The farm store sells the fruit fresh, as well as a variety of products made from blueberries: juice, jam, syrup, chocolate, tea and even honey from their own bees. Depending on the day, you can enjoy a blueberry muffin or a slice of blueberry pie with a cup of coffee on their terrace. On weekends, there’s a food truck serving gourmet fare – prepared, of course, with blueberries.
Another pick-your-own blueberry field in Limburg is Blauwe Bessen in Meeuwen-Gruitrode. And if you hail from West Flanders, visit O’Bio in Wielsbeke or Purfruit in Dentergem.
Mid-July to end August
Photo courtesy O'Bio/Facebook
