Roseville Columnist: I've Got the Blues

Working on the principle that a northern summer without at least one batch of wild blueberry muffins or pancakes is like a lake without loons, I went picking on a weather-perfect July Sunday near my Hart Lake summer home.

Roseville resident Tom Trumper, who is also our neighbor at Hart Lake, told me, while we were breakfasting on my cousin Betty's airy waffles, that the "blues" were abundant.

"Let's go," I said, and we did, Tom at the wheel of his van. He'd already scouted and returned with enough berries for a pie. My goal was to get four cups, ample to make muffins and pancakes for two sets of August visitors.

We didn't have to drive far, but the going was slow on an old logging road. Because we weren't whizzing by, we could see how the roadside wild raspberry and blackberry bushes were faring. Should be a bumper year for blackberries, though picking them is scratchy work, which I generally don't do.

Just driving the logging trail was idyllic as tall pines and aspens arched over our route. But when we came to an open area, I knew that we were in blueberry country, and indeed, that's where Tom parked the van. I could tell by the trampled bushes and ferns that others knew about this spot but we forged in to forage, and found plentiful sapphire blues, about two-carat size.

Years ago, when I wrote about picking blueberries, I gave this account of the exercise involved while in the patch, searching for berries while dealing with inevitable flies and mosquitos.

"This is how it goes -- Jane Fonda, are you paying attention? Find a good spot. Squat. Pick. Swat. Pick. Scratch. Pick. Then stand up, stretch, move to the next laden bush and squat-swat-scratch all over again."

My knees and back aren't as bendable as they were when I wrote that column 25 years ago, so I brought a plastic gardening bench, and when I found a good patch, I'd sit on the stool and pick 360 degrees. Much easier --though bending over a stomach still full of Betty's waffles was a challenge.

Picking was as pleasurable as ever. The sandy hills were covered with lichen that crunched underfoot. The sky was blue and it was totally quiet, except for buzzing flies, and at one point, the whine of a dirt bike ridden by a kid who valued the logging road for adventures other than harvesting berries.

Just as Tom and I decided we had enough -- for my pancakes and muffins, and for the batch of blueberry margaritas he was planning to make for our pre-dinner cocktail -- another vehicle arrived. Three pickers trudged into the lower area we'd previously scoured -- but not totally. There were enough blues for us all, and maybe a bear or two.

This is my favorite blueberry muffin recipe, reprinted from my cookbook, "Always on Sunday Revisited." You can make it with store-bought blueberries, if you don't have a secret northwoods patch.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Muffins:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1-1/2 cups fresh or dry-pack frozen blueberries, rinsed and drained

Streusel-walnut topping:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

To make muffins: Sift flour, baking powder and salt onto wax paper. In large bowl, cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Place paper baking cups in a 12-cup muffin pan. Spoon batter into cups, filling each 2/3 full.

To make steusel-walnut topping: In small saucepan, melt butter. Remove frm heat. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. Sprinkle over muffins.

To bake muffins: Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly pressed with fingertip. (Note: If blueberries are juicy, add another 5 minutes.) Remove from pan. Cool on wire rack. Makes 12 large muffins;.