By Porter Lang
Read the back of a frozen bag in January and you will often find the word “wild”. It is a good word to ask about. Wild blueberries in Canada are picked from fields that people manage every year, and the word describes the plant, not the picking.
One plant, two names
The Wild Blueberry Network Information Centre, run out of Dalhousie University, answers the question in one sentence: the terms “wild” and “lowbush” basically refer to the same plant. These plants occur naturally in Eastern Canada and Maine and are managed commercially. The centre adds that some lowbush blueberries are planted for production, and that those are not called wild.
The cultivated berry is a different shrub. According to the same FAQ, cultivated and highbush blueberries are the same plant: a larger shrub with larger fruit, planted in rows, most of it sold fresh. Wild blueberries are mostly processed and sold frozen.
The Canadian Encyclopedia gives the botany. Lowbush berries are mainly Vaccinium angustifolium, with some V. myrtilloides. The fruit is smaller, black or blue, and tart, and V. angustifolium seldom exceeds 30 centimetres in height, spreading into colonies by underground rhizomes. Highbush plants, V. corymbosum, usually exceed 1.5 metres, often reach 2 to 3 metres and do not form colonies. Their fruit is 6 to 12 millimetres across, sweeter and, in cultivated varieties, blander.
A field with a two-year clock
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s crop profile for 2023 describes the crop as grown in managed, wild stands. A stand managed for commercial production is called a field. Fields are pruned after harvest, in late fall or early spring, by mowing or burning, which stimulates new stems from the rhizomes and increases flower bud set. They are generally pruned completely every two years, so the cycle is a sprout year with no crop followed by a crop year. Growers manage fields so that only about half the acreage is harvested each year.
The Dalhousie FAQ explains why: plants do not flower on first-year growth, and second-year growth produces the most flowers. Older growth still flowers, but generally less. The Canadian Encyclopedia says lowbush plants are fire-adapted and resprout from rhizomes after burning, and that fields are typically burned every other year to clear competing shrubs and trees. It also says the plants bear fruit in their second year. Pruning, the Dalhousie centre notes, also makes weed control more effective.
Where the fields are
The federal profile gives provincial figures for 2023, taken from Statistics Canada.
| Province | Share of lowbush area | Share of lowbush production |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec | 50% (31,306 ha) | 42% (45,180 t) |
| Nova Scotia | 24% (15,153 ha) | 21% (22,771 t) |
| New Brunswick | 18% (11,136 ha) | 25% (27,219 t) |
| Prince Edward Island | 8% (5,097 ha) | 11% (11,325 t) |
| Canada | 63,155 ha | 106,692 t |
Two things stand out. Quebec holds half the area. And New Brunswick’s share of production is larger than its share of area. The profile’s text calls New Brunswick’s share 18% of national production, while its own table gives 18% for area and 25% for production, so we follow the table. The Canadian Encyclopedia names the same four provinces as the main lowbush regions and says British Columbia produces nearly all of Canada’s highbush berries.
Two numbers that do not match
The encyclopedia says Canada has over 78,000 hectares of blueberries, the largest fruit area in the country. The federal profile gives 63,155 hectares for lowbush alone. Our reading: the first figure covers both kinds and the second only the wild one, though the encyclopedia does not say so. It also says Canada is the largest producer of lowbush blueberries in the world.
Harvest: August and September
According to the 2023 management schedule in the federal profile, harvest in the crop year takes place in August and September. Most picking is now mechanical, “up to 80% in some areas”, once fields have been levelled. Fields that are not levelled, or that lie in forested areas, are still harvested by hand-raking. The Dalhousie centre lists hand-rake suppliers on its site, which tells you the tool is still in use. Most of the crop goes to processing plants to be frozen individually, a method the profile calls Individually Quick Freezing.
Dates in order
- Late fall or early spring (federal profile): the field is pruned by mowing or burning.
- Sprout year: stems grow, no crop.
- Second-year growth (Dalhousie): the most flowers.
- August to September of the crop year (federal profile): harvest.
- After picking (federal profile): most of the crop goes to processing plants to be frozen.
What kind of sources these are
A federal agriculture profile built from Statistics Canada tables, a university information centre, and the national encyclopedia. None of them is a producer’s marketing page. We read no grower, no label standard and no testing report.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is a frozen bag the best way to buy wild blueberries? The sources say most wild berries are sold frozen. They do not say frozen is better. Our reading: for a winter baking or porridge shelf, the frozen bag is where the wild crop mostly ends up.
Does “wild” on a bag mean foraged? The sources say the opposite for the commercial crop: a managed field. Our reading: ask the seller which province the berries came from and whether the fruit was machine- or hand-raked. We found no labelling rule in these sources.
What we left out
Prices, nutrition and health claims, export values, recipes, brand names, the history of the plant’s use before commercial farming, and any claim that Sephari stocks, sells or ships berries.
Quick answers
Is a wild blueberry different from a regular one? According to the Dalhousie wild blueberry centre, “wild” and “lowbush” are the same plant, while cultivated berries are a larger shrub with larger fruit.
Where are wild blueberries grown in Canada? The federal crop profile says Quebec held 50% of the lowbush area in 2023, Nova Scotia 24%, New Brunswick 18% and Prince Edward Island 8%.
When are wild blueberries harvested? The federal profile gives August and September in the crop year. It says most of the crop is frozen.
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