As a child I never had much of a relationship with blueberries. My aunt was great at canning, and she would spend summers at her house in the countryside, picking various fruits and canning them with a vengeance. She did not have blueberry bushes in her garden though, and she hardly ever used blueberries. I also remember my parents buying blueberries for me during the summer from farmers selling them by the cup on the side of the road. I loved the deep blue color of the blueberries, but as a child I didn’t know much about them.
In time I learned about the health benefits of this tiny “wonder fruit” and my fascination with blueberries endured. I realized I wanted to grow blueberries myself, so last year I planted a small blueberry bush in our garden. It survived its first winter, and this summer it bore fruit for the first time:
As the days got warmer, the blueberries got darker…
…and in the end, they looked like this:
I usually sprinkle blueberries over pancakes or eat them straight from a bowl, with a teaspoon of sugar on top. This time, however, I wanted to make something different, so I decided to make a blueberry syrup to use in drinks to quench my thirst this summer. Since the blueberries from my garden were clearly not enough, I went and bought blueberries from the local grocery store, where they were on sale.
Ingredients
3 pints blueberries
4 cups granulated sugar
This syrup is very easy to make: Wash the blueberries and put them in a saucepan with the sugar. Bring to a simmer and keep stirring for about 20 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the blueberries have broken down completely.
Remove the saucepan from the stove. When the syrup has cooled down transfer it into clean jars and store it in the refrigerator (I kept this syrup in the fridge for a month without a problem).
Some people strain the syrup through a sieve, but I don’t. It’s a matter of preference – I really like to keep the blueberries in it for extra texture.
I have served this syrup diluted with ice-cold seltzer water or poured over pancakes. It’s a great looking and tasting syrup – plus, your kitchen will smell wonderful while you make it.
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