I friggin love blueberries.
I eat them like they are M&M’s.
There is absolutely nothing better than downing these by the handful this time of year. The problem is, I have been tremendously unsuccessful at trying to grow them myself – be it in the ground or in a container – and do not have the time to put in the effort to amend my soil as needed. So I rely on my local orchards for my blueberry fix.
My favorite local joint for fresh off the branch/vine fruit is Solebury Orchards in Solebury, PA. It is a quick trip over the bridge from New Jersey and it isn’t like some of the other chain-like orchards in the area. We visited over the 4th of July weekend in hunt of the blueberry:
As we entered the blueberry locale, I vowed to make it down each and every row so I could locate every perfectly ripe, blueberry:
The truth is, it seemed a bit early for a lot of the fruit so we had to choose wisely and really search the shrubs like true blueberry detectives:
While my daughter wouldn’t eat a blueberry if her life depended on it, my son seems to be a fan:
The grounds at Solebury Orchards are rustic and charming and a place you want to hang for a while:
The kids are obsessed with the cider doughnuts that are sold in the store right behind them and were barely patient enough to pose for this shot:
The only disappointment was that we were not allowed to pick any raspberries but we’ll be back soon to devour those as well:
We had two cartons full by the time we left and admittedly, some of the blueberries were not really ripe enough. That didn’t stop me from eating them:
Best of all, my wife (the Chef D’excellence that she is) made lemon blueberry pancakes the next morning and they were ridiculously good:
One of these years, I’ll put in the time and effort to grow my own blueberries, but for now, I’ll hit up Solebury Orchards and let them do all the hard work.
Cheers!
John
You’ve left me drooling!
Ooooooh, yum!
oooohhhhh i have never been and it looks amazing!! do you ever visit delicious orchard in colts neck, we love it there.
the pancakes look sooooo yummy!!!
I’m with you. We buy by weight, and I’m just grateful they don’t weigh me on the way in and out. One for the basket, two for the tummy.
I have 14 plants of my own, but am not getting the production I want – the soil ph is probably not low enough (although I have amended it) and I think I may have them too wet.
When they are ready to pick, they roll off the bush into your hand. If you have to tug, you get the pinkish ones that are not so tasty and they don’t ripen off the plant.
Ours are gone except for the ones in the refrigerator.
That looks great. I wish we had a place to pick berries like that. Yummy!
What a beautiful place! We won’t be ready to pick blueberries up in northern NH for a while. Great pics and that pancake looks delicious! I am jealous!
Ruta
Yeah berries aren’t quite ready here yet. There are three farms within a five mile radius of me which I frequent several times during harvest. I have four small bushes too. One can never have too many blueberries. Those pancakes look delish.
Hubby and I are blueberry “junkies” too. I put in 15 bushes 2 years ago–they’re LOADED right now, but I’m not getting too excited. Last year, on the night before the few blueberries I had were due to be picked, something cleaned off EVERY SINGLE ONE of those delectable morsels. We didn’t get ANY!!!!!!!
This year–I’m waiting , in the dark, with a gun……..
😀
Absolutely wonderful!
Hello! This is actually my first time to see a fresh blueberry, straight from the garden. I live in a tropical country so such type of fruits don’t really thrive in our climate.
We have been harvesting our blueberries for a few weeks now, everyday my husband picks a few and pops them in the freezer. One of our daughters made a blueberry cobbler on the 4th served with vanilla ice cream. I love the look this this orchard.
pancakes, now you have my attention.