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ESCANABA -- Delta County's delicacy has a long history of harvest by the shores of the Bays de Noc.
The most delicious of all wild berries (in my opinion) the easiest to preserve and a plant with many medical uses, is the wild blue berry.
The sandy soil, made acidic by countless jack pines and fragranced by sweet ferns, is prefect for the growth of blue berries.
Indigenous people , hundreds of years go traveled with moccasined feet to the flat sandy berry hunting grounds around the mouth of the" Escanawba" River (original spelling).
Many a birch-bark containers were filled with the blue, almost black and the frosty sky blue, blue berries. Native people enjoyed them freshly picked off the bushes, the healthiest way to eat berries. They also dried many of them for trail snacks. Some were pounded into animal fat to make pemmican an early version of a fruit roll-up.
The leaves of the plant as well as the fruit were used for medicinal uses. Blue berry tea was used as a muscle relaxant; blue berry syrup was used to treat coughs and sore throats and brewed blue berry leaves helped with digestive issues.
Modern nutritionists tell us that blue berries are chucked full of antioxidants and are very healthy to incorporate them into your diet.
Most of us older Yoopers have many good memories of going blue berry picking with our families. Back in my younger days blueberry picking was an all -day event. Mom packed a picnic lunch in the cooler. Pickled bologna sandwiches, orange Kool-Aid, fresh fruit and a variety of Hostess cupcake items, and ice filled the cooler. It was an awesome feast shared together under the shade of a jack pine tree.
It was a long day, because after we all got home, we all helped clean the small berries. Then we usually topped the evening off with a swim!
Then Mom would make her magic then. In the cool of the evening, she would whip up a few wonderful homemade pies! The aroma was unforgettable. And if I live to 100 years old my pie crust will never match the tasty, light and flakey crust she made.
Fresh wild blueberry pie is a true Yooper delicacy.
Lower Michigan is home to many tame blueberry farms, and their berries are good but not as sweet as wild ones. Marquette and several other towns in Michigan hold annual blueberry festivals with lots of berries, great food, games, and entertainment.
Blue berry folk art is a very popular thing now too. Stained glass, linens, pottery, and painting with blueberries add a nice country look to any home.
It is blueberry season in the wilds of Upper Michigan right now. Join in some old-fashioned fun and go blueberry picking.
If you can't stay home and read the children's classic book "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey. Feel young again and enjoy the blueberry delights!