You can’t beat fresh Scottish blueberries, and now is the time to support your local grower

Now is the time to support your local blueberry grower, writes

Though Scotland’s core berry season takes place during the summer months, there’s one fruit still going strong until the end of October – blueberries.

One reason Scottish blueberries thrive at this time of year is due to a research project funded by the Scottish Government in 2016, where it announced that new plant-breeding technology was being used by the James Hutton Institute to help blueberries survive and bloom in the unpredictable Scottish climate. In addition, research by the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health, in Aberdeen, in 2016, showed drinking a concentrated blueberry extract could significantly lower glucose levels after meals, meaning blueberries could be used in the future to contribute towards the prevention and management of type-2 diabetes.

Blueberries aren’t just ridiculously good for you, they are also very easy to find in farm shops and supermarkets. They can be used in a variety of dishes, sweet and savoury, eaten raw, baked, juiced or even turned into jam.

The options are endless.

Jan Redpath, senior technical manager at Angus Soft Fruits, said: “This is a relatively new crop in Scotland and it’s only really expanded to the scale it’s on in the last five to 10 years.yea

“It’s really good that we can support those Sccottish growers from that period of time, in mid July, right through to mid or late October. “I think we’re getting a good blueberry crop from all the regions that we’re growing them in.” Despite developments in technnology that allow us to enjoy the berries later in the year, there aree still some challenges faced byy growers.

Jan said: “One of these

is that it takes quite a few years before you get to the peak blueberry production as we have to let them grow for three or four years before you get the maximum productivity from it – a lot longer than a strawberry, where you can get fruit the same year that you plant it.

“Blueberries are actually quite expensive to harvest because every single one of them needs to have been handpicked and, as you can imagine, they’re quite fiddly to handle, so it takes a long time to pick a kilo of blueberries compared to a kilo of strawberries.

“So the challenges are really about how long it takes to get the fruit from the plant and just how much time it takes to harvest the crop.”

Despite this, Jan believes the berries are well worth the effort.

He added: “My favourite way of eating blueberries is straight from the plant, though I know not many people are able to do that.

“That’s why the Scottish blueberries are best, because they are fresh and you can’t beat them.”

One classic French dish that makes good use of blueberries is clafoutis.

The batter is like a rich, sweet version of Yorkshire pudding and tastes delicious dusted generously with sifted icing sugar and topped with a scoop of justmelting vanilla ice cream.

The challenges are really about how long it takes to get the fruit from the plant and just how much time it takes to harvest

VERSATILE: From sweet dishes, to savoury, to a delight in their own right, blueberry options are endless.