Famous Family Favorite Blueberry Recipes Free Download!
The Our State Magazine 2013 Blueberry Recipe Collection presented by the North Carolina Blueberry Council  Inc. Is now available for you to down load! Although we have a link to this fine collection of recipes, you should check out the contest page at the Our State Magazine Website.

Our State Magazine is all about North Carolina. Through April 26, 2013, recipes were collected and then selected from the Our State Blueberry Recipe Collection. The North Carolina Blueberry Council is glad to have partnered with the Our State to share this wonderful, free collection of blueberry recipes.

Of course everything is better with North Carolina Blueberries!

Click To View and Download The 2013 Our State Blueberry Recipe Collection

Blueberry Cheesecake: The Perfect Dessert To Partner With The Indy 500 Race

Two historic events collide on Sunday, May 26th, the Indianapolis 500 race and National Blueberry Cheesecake Day! Guess which one is older? If you guessed the sweeter celebration you would be right on!

Cheesecake can be traced to the ancient Greeks and may have been a popular staple. Cato The Elder’s “De Agri Cultura” includes recipes for two cakes, librum and placenta, for religious uses. Placenta is considered most like modern cheesecakes. Placenta had a separate crust, but was substantially different than modern cheesecakes. It is said that cheesecake was served to athletes during the first Olympics. Chances are if they liked it, they were not athletes four years later!

We at the North Carolina Blueberry Council, Inc. would like to think that Blueberry Cheesecakes are an “All American” dessert given that blueberries are native to North America! That makes Blueberry Cheesecake the ideal dessert to partner with your 97th Indianapolis 500 celebrations.

Red, White, and Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe

Since May 26th will be an All-American kind of day, get patriotic with your Indy 500 race celebration desserts!

We Want Your Blueberry Recipes for the 2013 Collection!

With blueberry season just a month a way, it is time to dig up your best recipes to feature North Carolina blueberries. In partnership with “Our State Magazine, we are asking Citizens from all over North Carolina to share their best blueberry recipes for the 2013 Blueberry Recipe Collection.

Submit Your New and Old Blueberry Recipes Now!

Whether it is time to share Grandma’s best blueberry cobbler recipe or you just created a modern herb and blueberry marinade for roasting, submit by April 26th for consideration! Of those submitted recipes, the most creative will be selected, compiled and available beginning May 10, 2013.

Click Here To Submit Your Blueberry Recipe For the 2013 Our State Magazine Blueberry Recipe Collection presented by The North Carolina Blueberry Council, Inc.

Historic Burgaw, in Pender County, hosts tenth annual affair

Spread over three days in May and June, the North Carolina Blueberry Festival will celebrate one of the berries that is historically significant to the region. The blueberry started in Pender County and continues to be a commercially important summer crop.

The most current details for the 10th Annual North Carolina Blueberry Festival can be found at the official website. (http://www.ncblueberryfestival.com/)

The festivities start on May 3, 2013 with the Blueberry Open Golf  Tournament hosted by the Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce. The Blueberry Open Golf  Tournament will be held at the River Landing Golf Club in Wallace, NC. Cost of $100 per person includes 18 holes, cart, range balls, lunch and beverage. For more information: Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce

On Friday, June 14th, the featured events begin at 11AM with a BBQ and recipe contest. Saturday, June 15 begins with a “Tour De Blueberry” bicycle ride and 5k Run/Walk. The North Carolina Blueberry Festival carries on though the evening with entertainment, vendors, and car show. There will also be an antiques show and sale.

Burgaw North Carolina is 30 minutes north of Wilmington and a short country drive from Moores Creek National Battlefield. Consider working Moores Creek National Battle Field into your visit to the North Carolina Blueberry Festival. Stop and pick up some North Carolina blueberries while exploring the area!

If you are wondering how native North Americans might have used blueberries after the season passed, make Sautauthig. Although the original North Americans may have cooked Sautauthig during the summer when fresh blueberries were available, it is known that this was a common way to prepared dried blueberries.

A Recipe For Sautauthig Then and Now

A favorite dish of the Native Americans during colonial times was Sautauthig (pronounced sawí-taw-teeg), a simple pudding made with dried, crushed blueberries, dried, cracked corn (or samp), and water. Later, the settlers added milk, butter and sugar when they were available. The Pilgrims loved Sautauthig and many historians believe that it was part of the first Thanksgiving feast.

Here’s a recipe that gives us an idea of what Sautauthig tasted like. We call it Cornmeal Blueberry Mush but you can give it any name you want.

CORNMEAL BLUEBERRY MUSH

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup cornmeal or quick cooking grits
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
2 cups fresh, frozen or canned blueberries or 1/2 cup dried blueberries (see note)

- In a 2-quart saucepan heat water and milk until bubbles form around edge of pan.
Stirring constantly, slowly add cornmeal or grits and salt until well combined.
- Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer, until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in maple syrup or honey until well combined.
- Gently stir in blueberries.

Yield: about 6 regular servings or 12 tasting-sized servings (about 4 3/4 cups)

NOTE: Today, we don’t have to pick and dry blueberries in the summer to enjoy them year round. We can always find them in our local supermarket –either fresh, frozen or canned, sometimes even dried. If you are using frozen blueberries in this recipe, defrost them between 2 layers of paper towels to absorb excess liquid. If you are using canned blueberries, drain well. Fresh or frozen blueberries can be dried on a cookie sheet in a 250 degrees F oven for about 1-1/2 hours.

This article, including the recipe, is excerpted from a Student Activity article featured on the North American Blueberry Council website (http://blueberry.org). It is re-published with permission. (4.11.2013)

9x13x2 baking dish.

Cobbler Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Cobbler Filling:
5 cups pitted, quartered apricots
3 cups Fresh North Carolina blueberries
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp flour as thickening agent

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°.

In medium bowl toss the apricots, blueberries, white sugar, and 2 Tbsp of the flour together. Place filling into baking dish.

Whisk the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar in a bowl. Cube the butter and work into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse cornmeal.

Warm the blueberry apricot mixture in the or oven to help the biscuit topping to rise.

Mix the almond extract into the buttermilk and then pour into a well in the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix until the dough just comes together. Be sure not to over mix.

Form cobblestone shapes with the dough which you will then lay on the top of the blueberry apricot mixture. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the dough. Drizzle melted butter over the top

Let the completed cobbler sit and rise for 12-18 minutes before baking.

Bake at 425° for 10-15 minutes or until the top is just beginning to brown, then reduce the heat to 350°. Continue baking for 30 to 40 more minutes until the center fruit is thickened and bubbly.

Monitor and should the topping is getting too brown, cover it with foil and turn the heat down to 325°F.

Serves 8 to 10.