A Little Extra Protein?

I was recently visiting a rural home on a pre-listing appointment. It was one of those mid-week beautiful days that we'd really appreciate even more on the weekend. I was early so I was wandering the grounds of the property, admiring some very mature lilacs just past bloom and a rhododendron whose enormous white flowers were just beginning to open. Bees were buzzing all around the bush and it was quite beautiful. Next, I saw a patch of blueberry bushes. Just past bloom, I could tell there was going to be an abundance of berries in July or August. It reminded me of a conversation I'd had with a friend, Spencer, years back. We were sitting in his office describing our weekends. His father had invited him and his wife to pick blueberries at his house. They had several mature bushes and couldn't possibly use them all. At some point when son and dad were alone, dad mentioned that he didn't net the blueberry bushes this year or apply any type of pesticide. Generally, no pesticide would be preferred, one would think. But then his dad mentioned occasional blueberry maggot infestations he'd had previously, which led him to spray the bushes for a couple years but later just using a fine cheesecloth net over the bushes since grandkids wouldn't necessarily think of washing the berries before eating. Somewhat startled yet amused about the mention of worms in the blueberries, my friend went out and picked a few berries. His wife had already gone inside, having filled a whole bowl with tasty fruit. She was joyfully expressing how juicy and perfect they were, hoping she could stop herself from eating them all before baking a pie. Outside, Spencer broke open a few berries in his hand and was quietly horrified to find a maggot in two of the five samples he took. What a quandary! What should he do? Tell his wife or not? It turns out it didn't really matter. Particularly in the wild but often even with cultivated blueberries, the presence of two types of insect larvae might be found in any fruit that hasn't been netted or sprayed. According to the UNH Extension (extension.unh.edu), blueberries can contain larvae from either the native blueberry fruit fly or the invasive Spotted Wing Drosophila fruit fly. The fruit fly will lay a single egg under the skin of a ripening blueberry and when the larvae hatches, it feeds on the inner pulp of the berry for about three weeks before emerging as a fly. Its exit hole is tiny and hard to identify. Chances are, most New Englanders have ingested a blueberry maggot or two in their lifetime. Particularly if picking wild berries. The worm itself is harmless, thus far never having been found to carry any disease. We easily digest them, so no harm done. What are your chances of swallowing a blueberry maggot? If you pick from a commercial berry farm, pretty unlikely. Commercial blueberry farmers have a lot of handy tools to protect their cash crops. The simplest being sticky fly paper. Routinely monitored, at the first sign of a native or Spotted Wing Drosophila fruit fly, the crop can either be netted or treated with an organic pesticide that is made from a naturally occurring bacteria that breaks down quickly. Brands are Entrust (Spinosad), GF-120 Naturalyte and PyGanic (Pyrethrins). If you love picking wild blueberries up on Pitcher Mountain or any of the multiple prime spots throughout the region, try to pick at the beginning of the season (typically late July) before the peak maggot period. Avoid any berries that are wrinkled or mushy. To be extra cautious, soak the fruit in salt water or lemon water for about 20 minutes. Any larvae will emerge and float to the top. And if you just can't resist munching on a few of those delicious blue orbs out in the field, well, just consider it a little extra protein.