Blauwe Bessen (Blueberries)

It's yet another fantastically beautiful day in Belgium, so Jess and I decided to spend the morning picking blueberries with friends. We went to the Blauwe Bessenplantage in Gruitrode, and had a great time. You can't miss it. Just look for the huge inflated blueberries waving you in! (That's how you know it's picking time.) This place is really big. There are row after row of blueberry bushes, just waiting to be picked.Don't they look amazing? They taste even better! We were out there about an hour and got a ton of them. Well, maybe not a ton, but we did pick a heck of a lot of berries! As we picked, we categorized them. We started out with enough for muffins, then worked our way up to a small pie. By the end, we had enough to make a large cobbler, a pie, and a few dozen muffins. I think we're set! My lovely assistant, Jess, braved the wilderness (spiders) and helped me out by picking the majority of them. She might have a new career going for her... It was a relaxing way to spend the morning. We paid for our blueberries in the little shop, and picked up a few other goodies as well. They have a great selection of blueberry products. They sell blueberry everything, in fact! You can try it in wine, champagne, jelly, beer, syrup, a blueberry/chocolate candy bar...the list goes on and on. For those who are not quite as adventurous and energetic as we are, you can purchase blueberries that are already picked (but they cost a lot more, as you are paying for that labor.) We waved a final good-bye to the giant berry and headed back to base. It was a berry good day. (Oh, come on. You knew that was coming. It was too good to resist.)