Here, on what Ron Bodtke’s family calls the “home farm,” the endless rows of blueberry bushes stand higher than a person’s head and stretch all the way to the tree line.
Beyond this plot lies another Bodtke field, and beyond that one, still others.
In all, their blueberry bushes cover almost 800 acres of Van Buren County–think 800 football fields–producing 3 million to 4 million pounds of the juicy, midnight-blue morsels a year.
But as big as it is, their crop is just a fraction of the reason this corner of Michigan calls itself the high-bush blueberry capital of the world: Van Buren and nearby Ottawa County in southwestern Michigan lead the state in blueberry production, Michigan leads the nation and the United States leads the world.
“Blueberry capital” may sound like a quaint title in the high-tech, NASDAQ-crazed economy of the 21st Century. But over the last couple of years, the blueberry’s stock as a nutritional powerhouse has climbed faster than a dot-com’s initial public offering.
In the blueberry’s case, though, there have been no crashes. Study after study has affirmed its status as one of nature’s most healthful foods. Once enjoyed mostly for its taste and good looks, it’s now respected for its antioxidants and potential health benefits.
The research has fueled record consumer demand, not only in the United States but also in Japan, the largest overseas importer of American blueberries.
“We’ve seen a jump in the growth curve over the last two years,” says Mark Villata, a spokesman for the North American Blueberry Council in California. In fact, demand exceeded supply for the first time ever last year, despite a record crop of 201.4 million pounds.
For Michigan farmers like the Bodtkes, this is the blueberry season in every sense of the word.
Sitting at the kitchen table in his farm office one recent afternoon, Larry Bodtke, 41, acknowledges the moment.
Larry; his brother, Tom Bodtke; and his sister, Kay Bodtke Trevino, now manage the business that their semiretired parents, Ron and Phyllis Bodtke, founded 31 years ago.
“It’s a good time to be a blueberry farmer,” Larry says. “We had one of the biggest crops ever last year, and this year we have one of the lowest inventories ever going into the season. … I’m very optimistic right now.”
But once upon a time, he points out, it was strawberries that everyone wanted. “Then cranberries were the darling crop. … But they had three bumper years in a row and now they can hardly give them away,” he says.
Tom, 44, says, “We’re used to seeing the cycles. What is happening today, you can’t assume will be happening tomorrow.”
One important part of the picture is demand from Japan, which last year imported 4.9 million pounds of frozen highbush berries, says Villata.
“They like the taste, but what’s pushing it is the whole health aspect,” he says. Although American scientists have not investigated the issue, the Japanese believe that blueberries improve eyesight and relieve eye strain.
As a result, “A lot of new products have come onto the market–blueberry potions, pills, juices, extracts–all touting the ability to relieve tired eyes,” Villata says.
Lynn Kelley of MBG Marketing in Grand Junction, not far from South Haven in Van Buren County, likes the trend. MBG, the world’s largest marketer of fresh cultivated blueberries, is a grower-owned cooperative of more than 750 farmers in Michigan, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and Chile.
Its geographically diverse membership hints at part of the reason why consumers can now buy fresh blueberries virtually year-round. New areas–especially Chile, the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast–have become significant producers, and their staggered growing seasons mean that consumers can enjoy fresh berries 10 to 12 months a year, Kelley says. The company sells berries under the Great Lakes, Great Sunbelt and Great American labels.
“We start with South American production in mid-November and, depending on the Michigan crop, we may have fresh berries to sell well into mid-October,” she says.
Michigan is key because it produces more fruit than any other area of North America–65 million pounds last year, according to the blueberry council. After it is New Jersey with 36 million pounds; British Columbia, Canada, with 32.5 million; Oregon, 22 million, and North Carolina, 13 million.
Both MBG and the blueberry council work only with cultivated, or highbush, blueberries. Wild, or lowbush, blueberries are harvested commercially mostly in Maine and eastern Canada. The wild berries are smaller than cultivated ones and are seldom sold as fresh fruit outside their growing area. But they’re a significant part of the frozen and processed market, totaling 141 million pounds of fruit last year, according to industry statistics.
While you might argue about flavor differences between wild and cultivated berries, there’s no significant difference nutritionally, says James Joseph, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.
But whether there’s a difference between fresh and cooked berries is “a very interesting question. The results are mixed right now,” he says.
One recent study found that antioxidants are concentrated by cooking but can degrade quickly, while another study shows that cooking degrades antioxidant values right away.
In his own research, Joseph prefers frozen berries, even over fresh. “I know how they freeze them. The temperatures are taken way down there, very quickly after they’re picked, and they’re not going to lose any (nutritional value.)”
Joseph used frozen berries in his widely publicized studies on older rats. As reported in the Journal of Neuroscience last September, aging rats whose diets were supplemented with blueberries not only had better muscle coordination but also tested as smarter than rats of similar ages who were not fed blueberries.
Another Tufts scientist, Ronald Prior, reported in 1998 that blueberries ranked No. 1 in antioxidant activity among some 40 common fruits, vegetables and juices tested.
Antioxidants help protect people from diseases such as cancer, heart disease and arthritis, scientists believe. Anthocyanin, the pigment that gives blueberries their color, is thought to be the blueberry’s main source of antioxidant power.
The most significant findings began to be announced two or three years ago. In continuing research, “blueberries have held up very well. They have not been disappointing,” Joseph says.
But eating blueberries won’t offset the effects of poor dietary habits in general, he emphasizes.
BANANA-BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
From “The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook,” by Joe Hall and Elaine Sullivan.
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup each: buckwheat flour, whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal, optional
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons each: cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed, patted dry Oil or clarified butter
1 banana, peeled, thinly sliced
Butter, maple syrup
1. Combine flours, cornmeal, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat eggs with 1 cup of the milk and melted butter in separate bowl.
2. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until you have basic pancake batter. If batter is too thick, add additional 1/2 cup of the milk but do not overstir or pancakes will be tough. Fold in blueberries.
3. Heat griddle, adding a little oil or clarified butter. Ladle 5-inch circle of batter onto griddle. Drop a few slices of banana into each circle. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with tiny bubbles, about 3 minutes per side, then flip them over and finishing cooking. Serve hot, with butter and pure maple syrup.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 325 Fat ………… 11 g Saturated fat .. 6 g
% calories from fat .. 30 Cholesterol .. 130 mg Sodium …… 755 mg
Carbohydrates …… 48 g Protein …….. 10 g Fiber …….. 4.4 g
BLUEBERRY FRUIT SMOOTHIE
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
From MBG Marketing in Grand Junction, Mich.
1 cup low-fat vanilla ice cream
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
1/2 cup light peaches, packed in water or natural juices
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice 1/4 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
Place all ingredients in blender; mix until smooth, 30-45 seconds. If mixture is too thick, add more pineapple juice.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 230 Fat ………. 2.7 g Saturated fat .. 0.8 g
% calories from fat .. 10 Cholesterol … 7 mg Sodium ……… 75 mg
Carbohydrates …… 49 g Protein …….. 6 g Fiber ………. 4.3 g
FRESH BLUEBERRY PIE
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: One 9-inch pie, 8 slices
Cooking time: 15 minutes
From Liana Bodtke of South Haven, Mich.
Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Filling:
1 quart fresh blueberries, washed, picked over, patted dry
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoons flour Salt Whipped cream
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. For crust, combine flour, oil, milk, sugar and salt in medium bowl until mixture holds together when pressed between fingers; gather into ball. Press crust out into 9-inch pie pan. Prick bottom and sides well with fork. Bake 10-15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Remove from oven; cool completely.
2. For filling, combine 1 cup of the blueberries, sugar and 1/4 cup of the water in medium saucepan. Heat to boil.
3. Combine remaining 1/2 cup water, 3 tablespoons flour and dash of salt. Add to boiling mixture, stirring quickly with whisk. Cook until mixture thickens. Remove from heat; cool.
4. Fold remaining blueberries into filling mixture. Spoon filling into baked pie shell; refrigerate. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish with dollops of whipped cream.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 365 Fat ……….. 14 g Saturated fat .. 1.8 g
% calories from fat .. 34 Cholesterol … 0 mg Sodium …….. 300 mg
Carbohydrates …… 58 g Protein …… 3.3 g Fiber ………. 2.7 g
