Blueberry Oatmeal — A Bowl of August on a January Morning

Blueberry season. The two most beautiful words in the Minnesota summer vocabulary, and I will not entertain arguments. Paul and I went up the Superior Hiking Trail on Saturday — the section near Silver Bay, where the blueberry bushes grow wild along the ridge and the berries are small and dark and intense in a way that cultivated berries can only dream about. These are not the fat, bland blueberries you buy at the grocery store. These are wild berries that have survived deer and bears and Minnesota winters, and they taste like it — sweet, tart, with a depth that commercial berries don't have because commercial berries haven't had to fight for their lives. Paul carried the buckets. I picked. This is our arrangement, established in 1990 and unchanged since. Paul's hands are large and clumsy and he crushes more berries than he picks. My hands are a nurse's hands — precise, careful, built for delicate work. I pick; he carries. It works. We picked for three hours and got eight quarts. My back ached. My fingers were stained purple. The sun was warm on my neck and the lake was visible through the trees, blue and enormous, and Paul was humming — he hums when he's happy, a tuneless sound that isn't music but is close enough — and I thought: I will remember this. I will remember the berries and the sun and the humming. I will fold this into the collection of perfect moments and take it out later, when I need it. I came home and baked. Blueberry pie — my recipe, not Mamma's, because Mamma doesn't make blueberry pie. She considers blueberries inferior to lingonberries, which is the most Swedish opinion a person can hold and I love her for it. My blueberry pie has a butter crust — Pappa's mother's recipe, actually, the only thing she passed down before she died — filled with wild blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, a splash of vanilla, and a tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken. You bake it until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles through the vents and the whole house smells like August. I made twelve pies. Twelve. It sounds excessive. It's not. I froze eight, gave one to Erik, gave one to Mamma (who ate it despite her stated preference for lingonberries, which means it was good), and kept two for us. Paul ate a quarter of one pie in a single sitting and showed no remorse. The remaining four quarts of berries I froze for pancakes, muffins, and the sauce I make in January when the world is white and cold and you need the taste of August to remind you that summer existed and will exist again. This is how Duluth women prepare for winter. We pick in the sun and we store against the dark. We always have.

Not every quart makes it to a pie — some mornings, the berries are just for breakfast, a quiet way of holding onto August a little longer. After a week of picking and baking and packing the freezer, I wanted something simple and unhurried, something that felt like the fields rather than the kitchen. This wild blueberry oatmeal is what I make on those mornings: warm, honest, and ready in the time it takes the house to wake up.

Wild Blueberry Oatmeal

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups water (or whole milk for a creamier texture)
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup wild blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• Optional toppings: additional blueberries, a drizzle of honey, chopped toasted walnuts, or a dollop of plain yogurt

Instructions

1. Simmer the oats. Combine the water (or milk), oats, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for 5 minutes until the oats are creamy and have absorbed most of the liquid.
2. Cook the blueberries. While the oats cook, warm the blueberries in a small saucepan over medium-low heat with the lemon juice and maple syrup. Stir gently for 3—4 minutes until the berries burst and release their juices, forming a loose, fragrant sauce. Wild berries will turn the sauce a deep, dark purple.
3. Finish the oats. Remove the oatmeal from heat. Stir in the butter, vanilla, and cinnamon until the butter melts and the oatmeal is glossy and smooth.
4. Assemble and serve. Divide the oatmeal between two bowls. Spoon the warm blueberry sauce generously over the top. Add any optional toppings and serve immediately while hot.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 320 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 49g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 210mg