CHOCOLATE COVERED BLUEBERRIES: National Blueberry Day

Today is National Blueberry Day and July is National Blueberry Month! Chocolate goes so well with blueberries--wild, cultivated--even frozen! I've posted different blueberry recipes over the years, but thought the easiest to start a series of blueberry recipes would be Chocolate Covered Blueberries. I make them pretty much the same way I make chocolate covered raisins--in clumps, but you can also dip fat blueberries individually into dark chocolate.. sort of like having blueberry candy.

FYI: Until 1911, blueberries were picked from the wild, or bushes were dug from the wild that might or might not survive when planted elsewhere. But true domestication—reproduction at the will of a grower and breeding to improve desirable traits—was beyond reach. This makes blueberries among the most recently domesticated crops and one of the few that originated in North America, although they are now grown all over the world.

U.S. Department of Agriculture botanist Frederick Coville set the stage for commercial production by solving the mystery of why blueberries could not be cultivated well when he showed, in 1910, that the plants must be grown in moist, very acidic soil. Soon after, he made the first successful crosses designed to improve important traits, such as berry size and flavor. The blueberry was tamed. Coville's records which are at the National Agricultural Library provide a fascinating look at the USDA research effort that took blueberries from a crop picked from the wild and sold for 14 cents a quart in 1912 to a commercially grown crop worth more than $530 million today.

Dark chocolate and blueberries are great anti-oxidants, and coconut oil is great to fight inflammation, so think of this recipe as very healthy! I do. :-)

CHOCOLATE COVERED BLUEBERRIES

Ingredients
Pint of fresh Blueberries
2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp coconut oil

Directions
Wash blueberries and dry well (at least an hour before you dip them in chocolate or the chocolate will seize). Pat them dry.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Combine Chocolate and Coconut Oil in the top of a double boiler -- or a saucepan or stainless steel bowl over another saucepan of simmering water. Stir until just smooth. Remove from heat.
Dip berries (about 3-6 at a time-to make clumps) into chocolate to coat  (you can also use a special tool for dipping.. or two forks or two slotted spoons). Take berries out of chocolate with a spoon and put on baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the blueberries. You can always add a bit more coconut oil to the chocolate if it starts to thicken up.
Put baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes to set.
Eat!