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BLUEBERRY
Vaccinium angustifolium
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| The blueberry is a cool temperature,
moisture-loving plant which shares kinship with another
mostly Canadian plant, the cranberry. Native to northern
North America, the blueberry has also successfully been
grown in several European countries with favorable climates.
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Little is known
of the blueberry’s early history—it was
picked and eaten on the spot by the natives, and also
dried, as were other fruits, for later consumption.
Blueberries were flavorings for stews and soups. Lake
Huron Indians were reported to make a pudding of cornmeal
and ground blueberries called “sautauthig.”
Never a staple, blueberries were nonetheless another
example of the abundance of native plants. |
Certain
tribes were said to admire the blueberry because the
blossom end of the fruit forms a five pointed star.
Star berries were thought to be a gift directly from
the Great Spirit to hungry children. |
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Today many of the blueberry
products such as jam, syrup and juice are produced
from wild plant fruit, usually the species Vaccinium
angustifolium, known as the lowbush blueberry. In
Nova Scotia, Canada, wild blueberries are the most
important fruit crop economically. The province produces
30-40 million pounds of wild berries each year. The
state of Maine, too, is a wild blueberry area. |
Wild
blueberry plants are today cultivated for commercial
production. Primarily old acidic agriculture land
which has remained dormant (unplowed) for 20 or more
years is allowed over time to gradually seed itself
in with blueberry plants. The plants spread primarily
through a root system just below the soil surface.
Cultivation consists of promoting the spread of plants
by periodic field burning, mowing, weed control and
fertilizer application. Planting of new blueberry
plants has proven to be too slow and costly. |
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