The Star Berry - why the humble Blueberry deserves it’s moment

The Star Berry

If you know me well, you'll know I have a soft spot for the whimsical.

Tarot cards. Full moons. A dash of astrology. Tiny moments of everyday magic. Frankly, in a world that currently feels like it's running on caffeine and bad news, I think we could all do with a little more whimsy.

I'm also endlessly fascinated by the extraordinary stories hiding inside the things we've come to think of as wonderfully ordinary.

A croissant.

A strawberry.

A blueberry.

So, you can imagine my delight when a friend of mine referred to blueberries as Star Berries. Could a name for a piece of fruit be more full of whimsy? I think not! It was one of those moments where a whole lot came together. You see here in the Southern Hemisphere, we are all about the stars because the Matariki stars will be ascending in the night sky very, very soon.

Every winter in New Zealand, our eyes drift to the heavens. We search for the Matariki stars as they rise before dawn, marking the beginning of the Māori New Year. It's a time to remember those we've lost, celebrate the people around us and dream, ever so gently, about what comes next.

I am 100% here for all of it. I, like all those humans that came before, am completely captivated by the stars.

Those clever, crafty Ancient Greeks looked at the very same cluster and saw the Seven Sisters, daughters of Atlas dancing just beyond the reach of Orion. (Honestly, Greek mythology could have benefited from a few healthy boundaries.)

I spent my childhood obsessed with history. I became slightly obsessed with my Celtic ancestors. Family holidays always involved a visit to the nearest prehistoric villages, ancient stone circles and enough archaeology to make my younger self believe everyone spent weekends discussing all things historical.

All of our ancestors, no matter where they were would have watched those same stars as they marked the changing seasons, although many of their stories have sadly been lost to time.

Different continents.

Different cultures.

The same sky. Ooooohhhh feel those goosebumps!

Long before blueberries found themselves folded through muffins or piled high at the supermarket, many Indigenous peoples of North America knew them as the Star Berry.

Turn one over. Right there at its crown is a perfect little five pointed star. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it.

One beautiful tradition tells that during a time of famine, the Creator heard children crying with hunger and sent these berries to Earth. Each carried a tiny star to remind people where the gift had come from.

Even more remarkable? The Star Berry has been growing wild since the last Ice Age. Long before recipes, supermarkets or even farming, our ancestors would have wandered through forests each summer, fingertips stained purple from handfuls of wild berries.

Elizabeth is about to enter the room…

Then along came Elizabeth Coleman White.

My new favourite woman. This is the story as I found it. Start by picturing New Jersey in the early 1900s.

A room full of very confident men explaining, with great certainty, that blueberries simply couldn't be farmed.

Elizabeth essentially replied...

"We'll see about that."

She recruited local children and sent them into the forests on what can only be described as the world's greatest blueberry treasure hunt. Oh, my kids would have LOVED this. She told them to find the biggest. The sweetest. The most extraordinary.

And she'd pay for the bush.

Those handful of bushes became the ancestors of almost every cultivated blueberry we eat today. An entire global industry exists because one gloriously stubborn woman politely ignored the men in the room!

History has always had plenty to say about difficult women. Personally, I think the world could use a few more.

This all came from me testing out some new blueberry candles and researching the Strawberry Moon. More on that in the next post!

Now tell me. Will you look at blueberries the same way?