The Pine Mountain Blueberry Society is an eclectic assemblage of camping funhogs that converges on Pine Mountain in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Virginia, along the Tennessee and North Carolina borders, each August. Our quest is the delicious fruit produced by the Common Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), as well as revelled merriment and raucous fellowship.
The Common Highbush Blueberry is a perennial, deciduous shrub typically over three feet tall. The leaves are elliptic, short-stalked, and toothless or minutely toothed. Twigs are slender, and are greenish or redish in color. The flowers are white and urceolate. Berries, with five calyx lobes, form a star pattern at the stem; are blue or black, glossy or powdered with white. Flowering occurs from April through June, and fruit is produced June through September. The habitat is wet or dry acid soils; bogs, barrens, tundras, woods and thickets. The range of the Common Highbush Blueberry is the Eastern United States, however it is generally not found further south than Georgia because approximately 700 chill hours are required to break dormancy in the spring. The berries are eaten raw, smokedried, boiled, baked and in a water gruel. They are dried in the sun (it is immune to decay) and used instead of currants. Blueberries are one of the highest sources of iron for temperate fruits. They are valued as an antioxidant due to high concentrations of anthocyanin (what makes a blueberry blue) and polyphenol. They are well know as a laxative. Additionally, they are blood cleansers, improve circulation and benefit eyesight. Blueberries also taste pretty darn good in pancakes!
Blueberry News!
Past Annual Gatherings
2004, 20th Annual Trip
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
Recipes
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