If you're a fresh fruit lover, Michigan may not be the first place you think to look for your favorites. States like Florida and California are the best known and most productive fruit producing areas in the US.
But if you're visiting Michigan during the summer, don't overlook the plentiful pantries of local fruits and vegetables available from many of the state's locally owned and operated farm stores. (We also did a two-minute NewsBreak video about our blueberry finds, which you can find here.
While driving the scenic lakeshore highway along Lake Michigan, we made multiple stops for the freshest blueberries, including some that we could pick directly from the huge bushes.
At a local wine tasting room, we tasted their blends that included local Michigan blueberries.
At Palmer's Blueberry Farm in tiny Whitehall, MI, a recent addition marks five generations of family members to have a hand in the business. When we saw the signs declaring this "Blueberry Heaven," we had our doubts, but those were quickly dashed as we joined others lining up to pick fresh berries.
And at DeGrandchamps Blueberry Farm and Stores in nearby New Haven, MI, we passed on the u-pick option but loaded up on the packaged and ready-to-travel berries, plus grabbed a wide sampling of their famous blueberry products. There were blueberry jellies, preserves, syrups, butters, barbeque sauces and more.
To end the day, we stopped at 12 Corners Tasting Room in South Haven, and sampled some of the local grape products that also included blueberries.
While our mid-July travels were about a month prior to the 2022 National Blueberry Festival held in South Haven Aug. 11-14, we found the blueberries everywhere to be plentiful, ripe and luscious.
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