blueberries photo from Stocksnap

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD

Sometimes it’s hard to get past eating fresh blueberries by the handful, or even as a frozen snack. Beyond the luxury of topping hot and cold cereal or granola with fresh blueberries, or using frozen (fresh blueberries that you’ve washed and frozen) in smoothies, ice cubes and cold drinks, consider the following:

Blueberry Egg Cream: following the tradition of the New York summer treat that has neither cream nor eggs (milk and chocolate syrup are the usual ingredients), create a blueberry version. Purée fresh or frozen blueberries, and put about two Tablespoons in the bottom of a large glass. Mix in about a teaspoon of maple syrup or liquid sweetener of choice, a splash of plant milk, and top with sparkling water or seltzer.

Blueberry Sojito: add about two Tablespoons of fresh or frozen blueberries and about 3 fresh, shredded mint leaves to the bottom of a large glass. Smush with the back of a spoon (called “muddling), until you have a well-combined paste. Add very cold sparkling water or seltzer, quickly mix, and enjoy!

Blueberry Popsicles: combine two cups of your favorite lemonade with one cup of puréed, fresh blueberries and mix well. Pour into separate small cups stirring a few fresh, whole blueberries into each cup. Freeze. Add a popsicle stick or a straw, if you like, to have a portable snack.

Topless Blueberry Pies or Tarts: bake your favorite pie shell or tart shells and allow to cool. Combine about 1 cup water, 3 Tablespoons cornstarch, and ¾ cup dry granulated sweetener in a small pot and heat, stirring for about 10 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, stir in 2 Tablespoons vegan margarine and let cool for about five minutes. Stir in 3 cups fresh, washed and drained blueberries (or more, depending on how dense you’d like the filling). Pour into pie shell or tart shells. Refrigerate for at least two hours to allow the filling to set. If pie or tart shells are not available, pour the blueberry filling into a bowl and allow to chill for at least two hours. Use this to garnish cake slices, cookies, or sorbet or use as a topping for pancakes.

Blueberry Dump Cake: It may have a silly name, but is a seriously good dessert. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking pan (9- x 13-inch works) with vegetable oil. Combine 3 cups fresh, washed and drained blueberries with ½ cup of vegan dry sweetener and a teaspoon of grated lemon zest. Spread blueberry mixture evenly in the baking pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the blueberries (do not mix). Drizzle ½ cup melted vegan margarine over the cake mix. Bake about 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden. If you have extra blueberry pie filling leftover from your topless blueberry pie, you can use it instead of the fresh blueberries.

Be sure to take advantage of fresh blueberries and freeze some to use when the season is over. Wash and drain blueberries and allow to dry. They can be frozen whole, to be used in beverages, cooked pasta (try it in couscous), fresh salads, microwave blueberry jam, cooked cereals, and pancake, cornbread, and muffin batter. Or they can be puréed and frozen in small containers, to be used in smoothies, salad dressings, barbecue sauce (it works!), and mocktails.