Sun-Ripened Blueberries

Blueberries signal the near arrival of summer. With excess, I love making a batch of jam to enjoy throughout the year’s remainder.

Here is my most often followed recipe. The complementary flavors — ginger, lemon verbena, or lavender — add depth and brightness.

blueberry jam

base

• One cup of ripened wild blueberries, freshly picked

• One cup of granulated sugar

• Lemon, juiced and zested

ADDITIONS

• Marionberries

• Crystalized ginger, julienned

• Lemon verbena, steeped in the dissolving sugar

• Organic culinary lavender, steeped in the dissolving sugar

To prepare, dissolve sugar and juice from one lemon in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until dissolved. Add an equivalent amount of blueberries as sugar used, and simmer for forty minutes until thickening occurs at a low boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Transfer to jars and seal. Enjoy over homemade buttermilk scones on a summer afternoon.