Learning to love berries of all hues
Weeds took over the little strawberry patch in our front yard so I've had to rely on the farmers market and produce aisles for my berry needs this summer.
I happily start most mornings with a strawberry smoothie or a bowl of yogurt topped with sliced strawberries, blueberries or raspberries (red, or fresh-picked wild black raspberries when available). Yet Henry has always shunned berries, preferring a bananas or a Clementine to start to the day.
Then on Mother's Day, I made strawberry shortcake with fresh-baked biscuits and white sauce. No pound cake and whipped topping for us. That version reaches back to my family's roots in Southern Illinois. Anyway, the warm sugary sauce that draped the ruby berries was too much for Henry to resist. And guess what? He liked it. He even gobbled up strawberries once the sauce was gone.
With the berry door now open, I seized the opportunity to introduce other fruits from the berry family. Blueberries seemed a natural progression.
There's a lot to love about blueberries. They're native to America and while low in calories have respectable amounts of potassium, fiber and vitamin C. One drawback is the short growing season — they peak about now and are wrapped up by September. When you can get them fresh from the fields, they shine in cakes and cobblers, pancakes and pies.
To save your harvest for future enjoyment, spread them on a sheet pan in a single layer and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer them to a bag and they're ready to be used in baked goods or smoothies. You can use fresh or frozen in these Lemony Blueberry Minicakes. We hesitate to call them cupcakes, because that connotes copious amounts of frosting and we forgo frosting for a zesty glaze.
Henry says: I never really liked blueberries, or any type of berry for that matter. They either were too tart or not sweet enough. There would be only one perfect berry in a bunch and that wasn't enough for me. So I guess I didn't dislike them, I just didn't like them enough to eat them.
As I'm growing up, I'm trying new foods more often. Berries now taste more appealing to me.
A few days after we made these minicakes, I made what my mom called blueberry fritters.
We rolled blueberries into batter and dropped small clumps into oil and deep fried them.
So as for other parents with picky children, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
• Deborah Pankey, former food editor at the Daily Herald, is the mother of two boys. Her youngest, Henry, is a seventh-grader who is slowly coming out of his picky eater phase.