Florida’s Short, Sweet Blueberry Season

Florida farmers produce 10 to 12 million tons of the sweet, antioxidant-rich berry every year.

Springtime is ideal for picking blueberries during a weekend trip to some darling farming towns in central Florida. Northeast of Tampa, Plant City is famous for the Strawberry Festival every March, which is mainly a huge music event – although there are plenty of ways to sample strawberries: strawberry pizza, strawberry brisket tacos, strawberry Dole Whip and, of course, a strawberry shortcake-eating contest. Blueberry season is not so flashy, but there are lots of places to enjoy these sweet, juicy berries.

Start at Keel Farms, where you can pick blueberries, then enjoy a craft beer like their Roasted Jalapeño Blueberry Porter. You can also tour their winery and taste a dry blueberry wine along with bar food from their farmhouse kitchen. Sit on the huge porch surrounded by oak trees and blueberry bushes.

In Odessa, northwest of Plant City, find Starkey Blueberry Farm, grab a bucket and head to the u-pick bushes bursting with blueberries in April and May. The Starkey Market and Barn is a good stop for fresh smoothies, produce and baked goods. There’s a wine bar with local fish dip and dill pickle samplers. It’s popular with cyclists since there are loads of bike trails in this area.

Northeast on SR52, you’ll pass through Saint Leo and the verdant grounds of Saint Leo Abbey, a Benedictine monastery and university. Much of the stone used to build the Abbey during the Great Depression came from an Indiana monastery in exchange for Florida citrus grown in their groves. From here it’s a 10-minute drive to the charming town of Dade City.