To: "Pete" <ruger4570@bellsouth.net>, "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Blueberry Question
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:48:00 -0500
Pete, I think the highbush taste pretty much the same as the rabbiteyes,
but I read that the northern lowbush are sweet and bland. Whatever I was
reading said that one of the most commonly grown commercial varieties sold
fresh in stores is the reason so many people think they don't like
blueberries.
The very best blueberries I ever ate were picked on a back road in south
GA. We saw a couple of acres of heavily laden plants with a small house in
the middled. The people in the house were tenants, they gave us some
buckets and said they didn't know why the crop wasn't being harvested that
year, but that they would take the money for the berries we picked. (Seeing
as they had a scale I think they were legit as caretakers of the place.)
The berries were huge, like the size of nickels, and had an incredibly
aromatic, almost piney flavor. I think part of why they were so good was
that they were so very ripe. I have wondered if the variety might have
been 'Cape Fear', considered one of the best and adapted to the Gulf coast.
Donna