During blueberry season in south Baldwin County, you can pick fresh blueberries and you will find them in roadside stands and at farmer’s markets. Most grocery stores have them packaged in pint- and quart-sized containers.

They are one of our super foods, packed with fiber, antioxidants and vitamins. These berries are so very good for us raw as well as baked in recipes. It was easy for me and my brothers to pick a basket of blackberries, and it really felt like a special treat when we could pick blueberries.

We were oh-so-careful to not get bitten by “redbugs.” Those were dreadful little critters that live near blueberry bushes. We also could not eat all we picked. We had to carry a basket home for Mama to cook with. She would bake pies, cakes, cobblers and tarts and so much more. Also, now was the season to make jam and jelly — so good!

I used a recipe for blueberry muffins and adapted it for this blueberry bread. I baked it in a loaf pan the same as I would bake other fruit and nut breads, like banana nut bread. You could double the recipe and freeze a loaf for later.

Blueberry Bread 

Ingredients 

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking power
• 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries (or frozen).
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Topping

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs with sugar. Mix in the milk, oil and vanilla. Stir in baking power, salt and flour, only until well blended.

Carefully stir in the 1 tablespoon of flour into the blueberries (coating them with flour keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the pan).

Add the blueberries into the mixture and stir carefully. Add nuts if desired. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper or grease and flour the pan. Pour batter into prepared pan.

For the topping, mix all topping ingredients together until crumbly and sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60, minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

This bread can be refrigerated and even frozen to enjoy at another time.

From the scriptures

Spiritual food is essential for all of us, as well as physical food. We should nourish our mind and feed our spirit daily just as we feed our body. To memorize a weekly Bible verse is a fabulous spiritual food. Try it, and you will see how easy it is to memorize scripture.

Our memory verse for this week is Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”