Woman makes green out of blueberries
There’s something about the humble blueberry that makes people think of West Michigan summers: picnics at the beach, family reunions, concerts in the park and fireworks on the Fourth of July.
You might even go so far as to call the blueberry the “jewel” of West Michigan. People are that extravagant in their praise of this juicy, flavorful, healthy, deep blue fruit.
Tiffany Balk loves them so much she started Blueberry Haven, a food gift products business that is about “beaches, berries and bliss.”
The idea has blossomed about a year ago.
Balk and her husband Steve and their sons Keegan, Campbell and Cayce were returning to their home in West Olive from a vacation with friends. “We wanted to send them something that was typically Michigan, she said.
“Michigan cherries?” someone suggested.
“But that’s northern Michigan. That’s Traverse City. We don’t have cherries here. We have blueberries,” she said.
Balk, 42, has loved blueberries all her life, ever since her childhood in Maine when she picked berries from bushes behind her house.
She began thinking seriously about the many possibilities for blueberries — blueberry granola, blueberry muffin mix and pancake mix, sweet-and-salty blueberry snack mix, blueberry jam and chocolate-covered blueberries.
