What would you do if you had tons and tons of blueberries with nowhere to take them?
That’s the situation Georgia’s blueberry farmers found themselves in back in 2007 and 2008, said Shawn Davis of Southern Press and Packing. Davis has been in the blueberry business since 1999, farming 500 acres of the fruit in Alma. He also runs a nursery, Southeast Bark & Blueberry Farm.
According to the Georgia Blueberry Commission, last year Georgia produced 77 million pounds of blueberries, and Davis says the state is on track to get to 100 million pounds soon.
“Before 2007, we got $1 a pound for our blueberries. With the economic downturn happening at the time, farmers were getting 23 cents a pound,” Davis said. Not willing to take a loss on his berries, Davis began looking at alternatives for marketing his blueberries and decided to experiment with pressing them to make juice.
He bought a small press, put it in a 20-by-30-foot barn and started playing with blueberry varieties. “We worked until we got the flavor just like we wanted it, and then we started pressing and put it on the shelf.”
The “it” became Regenerate, a bottled juice that is 100 percent blueberries. No added sugar. No added water. Just the juice of Georgia-grown blueberries.
Soon you’ll see the Regenerate brand on fresh blueberries as well.
It turns out marketing blueberry juice isn’t as simple as taking a box to the grocer and asking him to put it on the shelf. “It’s taken us four years of getting it out there, doing demos and getting people to try it. We’ve also begun packaging it in 4-ounce cartons for schools. We started out in five school systems, and a year later we’re in over half the school systems in Georgia,” he said.
Before they got Regenerate into school systems, Davis said they partnered with the University of Georgia’s Athletic and Nutritional Departments to see if the juice would help players battle inflammation. Now the juice is available at all UGA student-athletes’ training tables.
Regenerate juice is available at grocers in their refrigerated juice section. The juice is pasteurized so it doesn’t require refrigeration until it’s opened and the unopened bottles can sit on your pantry shelf for up to two years.
Does Davis drink his own juice? “I wake up in the morning and drink half a bottle. And I drink it all the time while we’re pressing. I enjoy it in cocktails and we make the blueberry crunch and the blueberry ice cream with the recipes up on our website.”
At local farmers markets
Cooking demos:
9 a.m. Saturday, May 17. Chef Duane Nutter of One Flew South. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com
10 a.m. Saturday, May 17. Chef Asha Gomez of Cardamom Hill. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
Chef demos are held at many farmers markets. Check your local market’s Facebook page or website for listings.
For sale at local farmers markets:
Vegetables, fruits and nuts: arugula, Asian greens, asparagus, beets, broccoli, broccolini, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, celery, chard, collards, escarole, fennel, frisee, green garlic, herbs, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, morels, mushrooms, mustard greens, pea tendrils, peas, pecans, potatoes, radicchio, radishes, ramps, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, strawberries, sweet potatoes, torpedo onions, turnips, winter squash
From local reports
Blueberry Margarita
Hands on: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Serves: 2
This recipe is adapted from one prepared from Regenerate blueberry juice at the Blueberry Inn in Alma. To make simple syrup, heat equal quantities of granulated sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Simple syrup will keep in your refrigerator for at least a month.
Salt, for rim of glass
1 wedge lime
3/4 cup blueberry juice
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup triple sec
1 tablespoon simple syrup
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Crushed ice
Fresh blueberries, for garnish
Pour salt to a depth of 1/8-inch into a saucer. Set aside.
Run lime around rim of two old-fashioned glasses. Dip rims into salt. Set glasses aside.
In a shaker, combine blueberry juice, tequila, triple sec, simple syrup and lemon juice. Shake well.
Fill glasses with crushed ice and divide drink between them. Garnish with blueberries, if desired.
Per serving: 276 calories (percent of calories from fat, 2), trace protein, 20 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium.
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