Maine’s state fruit is the delicious, nutritious and native wild blueberry. Wild blueberries have grown in Maine and Eastern Canada for 10,000 years. Don’t mistake them for the big cultivated blueberries you find year-round in the produce aisle. Rather, the sweeter and smaller wild blueberries are wild by nature and are not planted. They flourish in the acidic soils of the fields and “barrens” of mid-coast and Downeast Maine.
Wild blueberry growers have managed the crop commercially for over 150 years, with some families growing for three or more generations. Wild blueberries also pack a punch nutritionally and contain more antioxidants than regular blueberries. You can find fresh wild blueberries in Maine and New England each August during harvest, or enjoy them frozen all year long in your grocery’s freezer section. Learn more from Wild Blueberries of North America and from the Maine Wild Blueberry Museum.
