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Interesting - I live in Oregon where we grow tons of blueberries but not the wild kind. I always wondered how they are different, apparently mostly grow in the

Interesting - I live in Oregon where we grow tons of blueberries but not the wild kind. I always wondered how they are different, apparently mostly grow in the Northeast US and Canada.

tejtm 6y ago
Having experienced both ... in Oregon we grow blueberries like fruit on trees, you may need to stand on step stool to reach up to grab a hand-full (3) and they seem to be available for much of the summer. In Maine they were more like a lawn of scrub grass and you will wish you had a step stool to sit on when you back gets sore from bending over to pick the dozens of berries that go into a hand-full. (we used "blueberry rakes" [1]), and the season seemed only a short few weeks. I have heard talk of differences in flavor, but the best is always whichever is in my mouth. [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=blueberry+rakes&t=lm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=blueberry+rakes&t=lm&iar=images&ia...
kitotik 6y ago
They are generally vastly more nutrient dense than the non-wild variants.
Scoundreller 6y ago
I dream of wild blueberries and refer to the cultivated kind (even the “cultivated wild” kind available frozen) as 3D printed blue spheres. They don’t travel well, so you’re unlikely to find them fresh outside of Ontario, Quebec. You need Boreal forest for good ones imo. I don’t understand why they’re hard to find in Toronto when you can find a roadside stand a few hours north that has them, often trucked from more hours north. Lots grow well around Sudbury because the nickel smelting plant’s acid rain made it even better for acid-soil-loving blueberries. Similar with Lac St Jean region in Quebec that had a massive fire.
- JackFr 6y ago
  > I dream of wild blueberries and refer to the cultivated kind (even the “cultivated wild” kind available frozen) as 3D printed blue spheres. I was confused by the use of “wild” blueberries in the article. Clearly they’re being cultivated - in what sense are they wild?
- cgh 6y ago
  > They don’t travel well, so you’re unlikely to find them fresh outside of Ontario, Quebec. They grow in massive quantities in BC. They are a major food source for black bears and their frequently-encountered shit is packed with seeds from the berries.
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    Never saw the goods for sale, but my travels were restricted to Vancouver<-> Pemberton. Maybe I was always in the wrong season, but I'm used to seeing random stands on the side of the road when there's availability.
  - steve_adams_86 6y ago
    I find them a lot here when I go to mountain biking resorts with my family. I don’t do the biking, so I take my toddler hiking instead. Mount Washington on Vancouver Island is a great spot for berries. Even the trails heading up the hill directly from the resort are absolutely loaded with blueberries and black huckleberries. Whistler has heaps of good berry trails too. I think it’s because so much of the earth has been dug up and disturbed for the resorts and trails, and the plants are such effective pioneer species.

Interesting - I live in Oregon where we grow tons of blueberries but not the wild kind. I always wondered how they are different, apparently mostly grow in the Northeast US and Canada.

tejtm 6y ago

Having experienced both ... in Oregon we grow blueberries like fruit on trees, you may need to stand on step stool to reach up to grab a hand-full (3) and they seem to be available for much of the summer. In Maine they were more like a lawn of scrub grass and you will wish you had a step stool to sit on when you back gets sore from bending over to pick the dozens of berries that go into a hand-full. (we used "blueberry rakes" [1]), and the season seemed only a short few weeks. I have heard talk of differences in flavor, but the best is always whichever is in my mouth. [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=blueberry+rakes&t=lm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=blueberry+rakes&t=lm&iar=images&ia...

kitotik 6y ago

They are generally vastly more nutrient dense than the non-wild variants.

Scoundreller 6y ago

I dream of wild blueberries and refer to the cultivated kind (even the “cultivated wild” kind available frozen) as 3D printed blue spheres. They don’t travel well, so you’re unlikely to find them fresh outside of Ontario, Quebec. You need Boreal forest for good ones imo. I don’t understand why they’re hard to find in Toronto when you can find a roadside stand a few hours north that has them, often trucked from more hours north. Lots grow well around Sudbury because the nickel smelting plant’s acid rain made it even better for acid-soil-loving blueberries. Similar with Lac St Jean region in Quebec that had a massive fire.

JackFr 6y ago
> I dream of wild blueberries and refer to the cultivated kind (even the “cultivated wild” kind available frozen) as 3D printed blue spheres. I was confused by the use of “wild” blueberries in the article. Clearly they’re being cultivated - in what sense are they wild?
cgh 6y ago
> They don’t travel well, so you’re unlikely to find them fresh outside of Ontario, Quebec. They grow in massive quantities in BC. They are a major food source for black bears and their frequently-encountered shit is packed with seeds from the berries.
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  Never saw the goods for sale, but my travels were restricted to Vancouver<-> Pemberton. Maybe I was always in the wrong season, but I'm used to seeing random stands on the side of the road when there's availability.
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  I find them a lot here when I go to mountain biking resorts with my family. I don’t do the biking, so I take my toddler hiking instead. Mount Washington on Vancouver Island is a great spot for berries. Even the trails heading up the hill directly from the resort are absolutely loaded with blueberries and black huckleberries. Whistler has heaps of good berry trails too. I think it’s because so much of the earth has been dug up and disturbed for the resorts and trails, and the plants are such effective pioneer species.