From Politics to Pop Culture: 4 Interesting Stories About Blueberries

With July winding down, the end of blueberry season is on the horizon. In celebration of all the amazing blueberries we’ve eaten this summer (it’s hands down one of our favorite times of year), we put together a list of our favorite blueberry stories, ranging from the poetic to the historic. But the month isn’t over yet– so take some time this weekend to get out and enjoy blueberry picking or make a delicious smoothie with one of summer’s most delectable treats.

Morning Edition’s “How New Jersey Tamed The Wild Blueberry For Global Production”

Unlike most other major produce crops, we know exactly when and where the blueberry became a cultivated plant. NPR’s Morning Edition traces the unlikely history of the small berry from the pine barrens of New Jersey to the pantheon of American cuisine. Listen to the story here.

Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill”

Though “Blueberry Hill” has had many famous singers cover it over the years (Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Vladamir Putin), we love Fats Domino’s bluesy, rock-n-roll 1956 take on the song. The melancholy love song was written in 1940 and was an immediate smash hit with the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s recording the same year.

The Salt’s “For Pickers, Blueberries Mean Easier Labor But More Upheaval”

Blueberries have a notoriously short season, which means workers have to constantly move to earn a living. NPR delves into the day-to-day lives of these workers and explores just what goes into producing the summertime staple. Listen to the story here.

Robert Frost’s “Blueberries”

One of Robert Frost’s lesser-known works, “Blueberries” has a distinctly nostalgic tone, as the poem takes place as a conversation between two unnamed characters. We’ve provided an excerpt below– check out the full poem here.

“Why, there hasn’t been time for the bushes to grow.
That’s always the way with the blueberries, though:
There may not have been the ghost of a sign
Of them anywhere under the shade of the pine,
But get the pine out of the way, you may burn
The pasture all over until not a fern
Or grass-blade is left, not to mention a stick,
And presto, they’re up all around you as thick
And hard to explain as a conjuror’s trick.”