Nova Scotia Blueberry Grunt
If Nova Scotia had an official dessert, it might just be Blueberry Grunt. This timeless combination of wild blueberries and crumbly biscuits makes for a crowd-pleasing treat that doesn’t have you running around town for obscure ingredients.
Serve with a generous dollop (or two) of ice cream and enjoy!
Ingredients
| 4 cups | Nova Scotia wild blueberries (fresh or frozen) |
| 1 cup | sugar* |
| 1 tsp | lemon or lime juice |
| 2 cups | flour |
| 1 tbsp | baking powder |
| 1 tsp | sugar |
| 1⁄2 tsp | salt |
| 1⁄2 cup | butter |
| 1 | egg |
| about 1/2 cup | milk |
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Pour blueberries into oven-safe deep-dish pie plate and add sugar and lemon or lime juice
- Stir well, then place dish in oven and bake berries uncovered. 10 to 15 minutes for fresh berries or 20 minutes for frozen berries
- While the berries are in the oven, make the biscuits: in a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt to mix.
- Break butter into pieces with hands and add to flour mixture. Cut the butter into flour with a fork until butter and flour are combined in small crumbly pieces.
- Crack egg into a measuring cup and top with milk to 3⁄4 cup
- Mix egg and milk with a fork
- Add to flour mixture and blend with fork until combined — mix in any remaining dry bits with hands.
- Take hot blueberries out of oven – scoop biscuit dough with a 1⁄4 cup measuring cup and arrange
on top of hot berries (approximately 11 biscuits) - Carefully cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and return to oven
- Bake, covered, 15 minutes
- Remove dish from oven and carefully remove foil. Place dish back in oven and continue to bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until biscuits are lightly golden
- Allow to cool 10 minutes or so —the longer the grunt sits, the more blueberry liquid the biscuits will soak up
- Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream
Recipe Hint
*To cut back on sweetness, use 3⁄4 cup sugar instead of 1 cup
Source Guide
Wild blueberries: Noggins Corner Farm Market, Stirling Fruit Farms, Masstown Market or one of the many other Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia.
I am confused about your sugar amount. Recipe calls for 1 cup. but your hint says to cut back on sweetness use 1/4 cup instead of a 1/2 cup (there is no 1/2 cup mentioned ) Please advise. Sounds delicious
Hi Judy, the original amount is 1 cup of sugar, so reduce the amount (to 3/4 of a cup) if you would like a grunt that is not as sweet. Thanks for your comment – we have fixed the amount in the recipe.
Hi, the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but below you say I can use 1/4c instead of 1/2c.
So is the 1c a typo, or….?
Yes – it was a typo. Apologies for the confusion! It should be 1 cup of sugar and you can reduce to 3/4 cup if you prefer a less sweet version.
Does it call for 1 cup of sugar or 1/2 cup. See the note on bottom?
1 cup is the amount called for in the recipe. If you prefer your grunt to be less sweet, add only 3/4 cup of sugar. You could even substitute maple syrup for some of the sugar if you are so inclined and want to experiment!
Recipe says 1 cup of sugar but notes below say if you want to cut back on sugar to add 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup…wondering what is correct amount 1 cup of 1/2 cup of sugar?
Thanks Sonya,
We have revised the recipe to fix the contradiction: 1 cup of sugar if you like a sweet Blueberry Grunt – 3/4 of a cup if you prefer something with less sugar.
There appear to be a couple of errors in this recipe. Do you add first cup of sugar to berries? And the tsp of lemon juice? where does it go? Then in the comment it refers to 1/4 instead of 1/2 cup of sugar that is not listed in ingredients. I really want to cook this. Would have to use high bush berries. No one here has those sweet little berries from Nova Scotia, but the recipe needs some clarifications. Hope some one sees this and gives us some more details.
Yes – you can add 1 cup of sugar and the lemon or lime juice to the berries (follow direction number two). If you prefer your grunt to be less sweet, add 3/4 cup of sugar. You could even substitute maple syrup for some of the sugar if you are so inclined and want to experiment!
We suggest Nova Scotia wild blueberries (because we promote local products) but the recipe will work with other blueberries too. Hopefully you can come for a visit and try our local berries in person – they are in season right now! We do have the following blueberry products in Sobeys stores across Canada and some health food stores:
Van Dyk’s 100% Wild Blueberry juice
Terra Beata Blueberry juice
The recipe ingredients say 1 cup sugar but when listing the sugar modifications, it says to reduce it from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup so is the original amount 1 cup or 1/2 cup. thanks
Hi Nancy, the original amount is 1 cup of sugar, so reduce the amount if you would like a grunt that is not as sweet. Thanks for your comment – we have fixed the amount in the recipe.
We live in London Ontario and get frozen Nova Scotian Wild Blueberries at Farm Boy near us. We have picked High Bush up here for years but since these frozen ones are available we prefer them. There is definitely a difference in flavour.
How is this different from a cobbler other than the name?
For me, the sauce in a cobbler usually has flour or cornstarch added to it, to make it more gel-like.
A grunt has at most a runny, syrupy sauce, unless it’s horribly overcooked.
How many does this recipe serve?
An actual blueberry grunt is boiled blueberries and dumplings, the traditional recipe is in Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens. https://www.saltscapes.com/kitchen-party/recipes/item/blueberry-grunt.html