Winner, Winner...

...Salmon Dinner!

Cold weather and the over abundance of noise that passes for news nowadays has lately opened my world to a welcome retreat to the kitchen.

After group and the running of Friday errands I fed my sourdough starter children and made a third batch for a possible experimental bake over the weekend.

There was a dozen of my signature blueberry muffins to bake followed by our weekly imported salmon; pan-seared with rice pilaf and sautéed spinach.  Remind me to extol sometime about the virtues of browned butter sauté. 

A word about the muffins.

Growing-up, blueberries were a rare seasonal item and rarer still in our household. Likely a consequence of scarcity-induced pricing. 

In case you missed it, blueberries nowadays are available year-round as a result of advances in Peruvian agriculture. And these blueberries grown at altitude in the Andes are mutant things of fruity deliciousness..

Anyway, raising a toast to global supply chains and 2-3 extra minutes of daylight delivered with every sunrise. 

 

Blueberry Kingdom

 

 

Growing-up as a kid blueberries were a seasonal treat. And my recollection is that most of them came from Michigan.

Nowadays, blueberries are available virtually year-round. And they come from South America; mostly Peru.

Carlos Gereda was the spark that lit Peru's blueberry boom of the past decade. He asked a simple question: "Can blueberries grow in Peru?"

In 2006, he brought 14 varieties from Chile to see which ones adapted well to the Peruvian climate. He narrowed it down to four and, in 2009, founded Inka's Berries. The company's service consisted of assisting the development of plantations that adhered to the growing standards Carlos had conceived. The blueberry revolution ensued.

As a consequence of Peru's coastal location along with a wide selection of growing elevations blueberries can be grown all year long. Peru is now the the world's second largest supplier of blueberries.