Chef's Best: Berry Season a Most Wonderful Time of the Year

When I was growing up, we didn’t have air conditioning.  Actually, to this very day, my parents refuse to put an air conditioner in their home for fear of the power bill going through the roof!  During this time of the year, we would rarely cook anything in the house.  Most days would be either something cooked on the grill or most regretfully… some kind of cold cut sandwich.

The sad part is this time of the year, in this part of the country, is when everything is in season.  This is the time of the year for berries!!  Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, you name it, it is in season.  

Anderson Chef Jason CobbAs a child we had blackberry bushes just down the street from my parents’ house, and near my grandparents’ home, there were wild blueberry bushes (some call them huckleberries), which we would go pick around the first of July.  These small bushes filled with delicious berries grow in the underbrush along the side of the road.  

To this day, I enjoy going to pick wild berries.  Even as a child, one of the few things I looked forward to was when mom would, even without air conditioning, wait until it had begun to cool off at night and she would make homemade blueberry muffins.  There is something quite different about using fresh picked berries to make muffins, especially those made with those minute berries grown in the wild.  If you can’t get your hands on wild berries for lack of availability, go to a local U-Pick berry farm and pick some berries of your own for this project.  Please don’t go to your local supermarket and get berries from some unknown location.  Trust me…. The difference is noticeable.

JayBob’s Blueberry Muffins

3 ½ cup Self Rising Flour

1 ½ cup Granulated Sugar

1 tsp Salt

Zest of 1 Lemon

2 cup Buttermilk

2 Lg Eggs

¼ cup Vegetable Oil

3 ½ cup blueberries

2 Tbsp Flour

1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
2. Prepare a set of 24 muffin tins with shortening and flour.
   
3. Sift the flour together with the sugar and salt.
4. Add the lemon zest and stir to combine.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk and oil together until well combined.
6. Gently mix the dry mixture in with the buttermilk mixture until almost combined.   Mix AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE!
7. Rinse the berries under running water and drain.  Add the flour and toss to combine.
8. Fold berries together with muffin mixture until just combined.
9. Divide batter between prepared muffin cups.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set.
11. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Anderson's own Chef Jason Cobb. Cobb is a graduate and Culinary Fellow of the prestigious Johnson & Wales University. Chef Cobb is also available for catering at 864.367.6047