Blueberries

My first recollection of blueberries was this scratch and sniff book I had as a little girl. Clara the cat went around and sniffed different things, and the two that stand out in my memory are lilacs (and boy was it nice to get to roll around in those this last wee while in Ontario), and, you guessed it, blueberries, as it turns out in the form or blueberry pie (what could be better?).

Now I must have already known about blueberries, clearly this was not my introduction, because I picked up on it right away, and boy did I run with it. I read the book out loud to myself and audio taped it (I loved hearing my own voice, not a surprise to anyone who knows me) and then listened back, and the way I said blueberry pie was to die for. Or, in my case, to live for. Maybe this set the stage. I have always loved blueberries, put them in my granola and yogurt (another power food, by the way, even dairy avoider that I am suppose to be, I do make an exception for plain, organic yogurt), and now have frozen blueberries in my smoothies. It is safe to say, since I have developed my allergies to stone fruit (peaches, apricots, cherries, plums – a deep and desperate loss I might add), that blueberries are my favourite fruit (even one of my favourite foods).

So how happy was I to discover an amazing beverage, Bremner’s Pure Blueberry Juice. Now I have to agree with Dreena Burton, an amazing British Columbian Vegan Cookbook Author, when she reports that this juice is “Refreshing, not sickly sweet, and true blueberry flavour!” What more could a gal (or guy) want, well, I mean besides the pie part to go along with the blueberries.

And while it is a bit more expensive than other such juices (I guess blueberry juice in general is a bit pricey, then again it can’t be easy squeezing the juice out of those tiny little suckers, and boy it must take a lot of them for one jar), I find it worth the difference (I had my first experience of blueberry juice with a different brand and just about gave it up thinking “if this is what happens to blueberries when juiced, well, why bother?” – thank goodness the Bremner’s came on sale and I decided to give it another shot), and I too stock up when the sales are on. But even more to the point I think of it as a worthwhile investment. A handful of blueberries power packs me with free radical fighting anti-oxidants, and we all know (please tell me we all know!!?) that this helps prevent cancer. Good stuff! Drinking a veritable vat (well, considering the size of them, a glass to me is like a vat to them there blueberries) of them has got to do some good. Drinking that everyday has got to make up for drinking the bad stuff like coffee and booze, so bring it on I say. And how do I do that? My favourite ways: either straight up or in my power shake (one variation of it at the bottom of this post), to up the power quotient even more.

Give it a try.