Servings: 2

INGREDIENTS

1 cup blueberries

1 cup baby spinach

1 banana, chopped

1½ cups ice

PREPARATION

1. Place the blueberries, spinach, and banana in a blender or food processor and blend until just combined.

2. Add in the ice and continue to blend until the mixture is smooth.

3. Serve immediately.

4. Enjoy

 Ingredients 

• 300g digestive biscuit 
• 140g butter, melted 

• 125g golden caster sugar/brown sugar 
• 150-200g blueberries 
•               1 tsp cornflour 

• 600g full-fat cream cheese 

• 4 tbsp plain flour 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 3 large eggs 
• 200ml pot soured cream (or cream and lemon juice) 
•  

Method 

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line approx 20 to 30cm circular/rectangular tin with baking parchment. Crumble the biscuits and add melted butter. Mix until smooth ( or blend). Tip into the baking tin, press down firmly with the back of a spoon to cover the base, then bake for 10 mins. Leave to cool. 
• Meanwhile, tip 25g of the sugar and the blueberries into a small pan with 50 mls water. Simmer (very low) 10 mins. Squish the blueberries. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp cold water and add this to the pan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Add 20 mls more water if required and increase the heat, bubble for 1-2 mins until thickening. Set aside to cool. 
• In a large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining sugar and whisk again. Add the flour, vanilla, eggs and soured cream, and whisk until smooth and well combined. 
• Pour half the cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base, then spoon half the blueberry sauce on top. Cover with the remaining cheesecake mix and smooth the surface with a spatula. Drizzle the remaining blueberry sauce over the top, then use the end of the spoon to ripple it into the cheesecake. Bake at 175 (fan) for 10 mins, then lower the heat to 90C fan/ gas ¼ and bake for a further 30 mins. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside for 1 hr, then leave for 1 hr more with the door ajar. Finally, leave at room temperature until completely cool, then chill for at least 3 hrs or, even better, overnight. Slice and serve. Will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. 

It isn’t as easy as you’d think!

The blueberry is a flowering shrub that produces nutritious berries. Blueberries are small, around 5-16 millimetres (0.2-0.6 inches) in diameter, and have a flared crown at the end. They are green in colour at first, then change to red, then blue-purple as they ripen. They require an acid soil to grow, our soil is naturally acid here, and we add mulched pine prunings and organic manure in winter to keep them healthy, with no chemical fertilizer or non-organic additives. The acid soil inhibits insects and spiders, and so no sprays or insecticides are needed or used.

The bushes don’t like their roots in water and they die if too dry, so we have a sophisticated drip-though irrigation system using natural rainwater from our lake, all monitored by our farm manager, Alex, and our staff.

The great irrigation system and enriched soil means we also grow great weeds, so much weeding is necessary, and also extensive pruning, which we do in January. We retain the best 5 branches, cutting back to 1 metre or less, and cutting off any additional ones. The only major loss of berries is to local birds (and the occasional passing hiker!).

Well, we have had a wonderful week of rain! Much needed as we nearly ran out of water for the Blueberry Bushes in October. Now the water levels have risen nearly 2 metres since Saturday 14th.

We are about half-way replenished, so we still need another weeks rain, but are happy to wait for another month now 🙂

We won’t have any more berries until May, they need springtime to grow their flowers and then a months sun to ripen and become sweet and tender.