Beth Dooley | Star Tribune (TNS) Blueberries are the taste of summer, intensely tangy and sweet. The epitome of this fleeting season, they make a wonderful drink to sip with friends as the sun sinks behind an indigo horizon. Related Articles How to make the perfect pierogi at home Add this easy veggie-turmeric pasta recipe to your summer dinner rotation Quick Fix: Steak with Shallot Sauce (Steak aux Eschalot) with Potatoes and French Green Beans Recipe: Canned tuna is a key ingredient in this tasty pasta dish 3 summer cocktail recipes from cocktail influencer Julianna McIntosh Picking blueberries is lodged in our collective summer memories that are pure as the season itself.
One of the few fruits indigenous to North America, several varieties have been hybridized for commercial production; others are found in the wild. Those big, juicy berries sold in markets are the highbush variety, plump and loaded with juice. The tiny lowbush blueberries grow wild and are hidden along the sandy shores of cold lakes; their flavors snap and pop with a bright tang.
These blue fruits are loaded with vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants and are considered a low-calorie superfood. Native Americans dubbed blueberries star fruits for the five-pointed star shape at the berries’ end. Aromatic and distinctive, they star in my summer drinks.
Blueberry cocktails became more popular with the rise in the craft of mixology and you’ll find them in cosmos, mojitos, margaritas, daiquiris, martinis, lemonad.