East Coast Blueberry Grunt

I read somewhere that Blueberry Grunt gets its name from the sound the dish makes while it cooks.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t true (and I’ve never heard mine make any such sound), but I do know that this dessert has deep roots in the Maritimes.

If you’ve never heard of it, Blueberry Grunt is dumplings cooked in a blueberry sauce. It as simple as it sounds  and a perfect way to celebrate blueberry season.

My version uses more berries than many of the available recipes, and I add a bit of orange juice and maple syrup to complement the blueberries. The dumplings use olive oil instead of butter or shortening and mix together in just a few minutes.

Topped with whipped cream or ice cream, this is wonderful for dessert. You can also serve it for breakfast with some Greek yogurt and a bit of honey and cinnamon. At least once a year (usually in August when the first berries appear), we eat grunt for dinner all by itself.

I am completely biased, but this recipe really does taste better with the small wild berries, rather than the large high bush ones.

If you are lucky enough to live in wild blueberry country, you can find the small berries fresh in grocery stores and markets for a short time in late summer. Otherwise, you can find them frozen all year round. This recipe will work just as well with fresh or frozen berries.

For more blueberry recipes, try:

Blueberry Muffins with Ricotta and Cornmeal

Blueberry Shortbread Cheesecake

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East Coast Blueberry Grunt

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

Blueberry Grunt is delicious for breakfast or dessert. Maple syrup is a great partner to blueberries, but if it is not available or is too expensive, you can substitute honey or another liquid sweetener. You may worry that there is not enough liquid in the recipe, but when the berries start to cook, they will release juice.

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Mary Gillespie

Ingredients

Blueberry Sauce:

• 6 cups / 1.5 liters fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml orange juice
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon / 15 ml lemon juice
• Pinch salt

Dumplings:

• 1 cup / 250 ml whole wheat flour
• 1 cup / 250 ml all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons / 30 ml brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml salt
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml baking powder
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml baking soda
• 1/3 cup / 80 ml olive oil
• 1 cup / 250 ml buttermilk

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, place blueberries, orange juice, maple syrup, lemon juice and salt.
2. Bring the berries to a simmer over medium heat, then cover and reduce heat slightly. Let the berries simmer until they have started to pop and there is a lot of juice in the pan. This should take about 10 minutes.
3. While the berries are simmering, make the biscuits.
4. Mix together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Pour olive oil over flour mixture and stir until the mixture looks crumbly. (You can use a pastry blender to do this if you have one.)
5. Add all the buttermilk at once and stir just until the ingredients are combined. The batter will be very wet.
6. Working quickly, drop large spoonfuls of the batter onto the simmering berries until all the batter has been used. Cover the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the dumplings comes out clean.
7. Spoon dumplings into serving dishes and top with some of the berries.