The Darker the Blueberry the Sweeter the Cobbler

Some foods, particularly desserts, are only meant to be made during certain seasons of the year.  While there is nothing stopping you from baking a King Cake in October, a Pumpkin Pie in April or Gingerbread Men in July, personal and family tradition seem to set an understood schedule when dishes should be, rather than could be made.  For me, cobblers are only to be made during the summer months when fruit is local and fresh.

Each summer, I wait expectantly for the local farms that offer pick your own berries to open for the season.  My family is fortunate to have three local farms close by that specialize in strawberries in May, blueberries in June/July and blackberries in July/August.  This past Saturday, I made the annual pilgrimage to the blueberry farm.  The field were full of families on outings just like when my wife and I would bring our boys when they were young.  The pattern I noticed with the current families matched our own experience: kids ate berries off the bushes until they were full, picked a couple, knocked over buckets of picked berries and then ran around with Mom chasing them while Dad quickly picked as many as possible before having to retreat back to the car.

A side benefit of berry picking is you can learn a great deal from just listening to the other pickers' conversations.  For example, I learned from the ladies picking beside me that they were planning on using their blueberries for a special dessert they were bringing to a friend's party.  This event was referred to as a "Reveal" Party where folks were invited to learn what the sex of a new baby is after the ultrasound.  Now, this isn't a baby shower.  They were adamant that event would come later. Who knew such a thing existed?  Well...now I do because I learned while picking.  One never knows where wisdom will be imparted.

This year, I picked alone and almost found it to be a zen-like experience.  With my phone streaming WWOZ from New Orleans in my breast pocket, I picked for about 90 minutes and finished up with 9 lbs. of berries.  The damage was less than $21 (about a third of the cost of local supermarket retail) and the family is now set for a good while.  I freeze about 2/3 of them and the rest we eat fresh.

Now, there seems to be as many ways to make cobbler as there are varieties of BBQ sauce but my favorite way is simple, basic and for my benefit...easy to remember.  It goes like this:

When the Tailgate Drops Cup, Cup, Cup, Pinch, Pinch, Stick, Mix,  Bake, Eat, Nap Cobbler

Mix in a bowl:

- Cup of Flour
- Cup of Sugar
- Cup of Milk
- Pinch of Salt
- Pinch of Baking Powder
- Melted Stick of Butter

Pour into baking dish and fold in blueberries.

Cook at about 375 until brown on top.

Serve with Ice Cream (best but not essential)

Take Nap

I'll be traveling to the blackberry farm next weekend.  Thankfully due to the miracle of plant genetics, these blackberries are thornless and I no longer need to look like I just walked away from getting clawed by a mess of cats like I used to when I would pick blackberries by the railroad tracks.  Who says folks in the South are resistant to change?