WONDER BERRY.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Peggy and George Gittins were picking blueberries long before scientists and dietitians started telling them the fruit was good for them.

"We have them for breakfast every morning in the winter," said Peggy Gittins, standing before some 40 to 50 pints worth of pick-your-own berries destined for her freezer.

"We make blueberry cobbler, blueberry buckle, french toast, blueberry pancakes ...'

Prices for Willamette Valley blueberries have reached record or near record highs this year, a fact most growers attribute to the recent health news about the berries, which have been credited with everything from fighting cancer to lowering cholesterol. The much-hyped, antioxidant-rich berry has been called a "super food" and was even served at President Bush's last inauguration in a drink dubbed the "Freedom Martini."

Oregon blueberry believers, such as David Brazelton, president of Fall Creek Farm and Nursery, say blueberries are not in danger of becoming another has-been fad such as the one promoted by the about-to-be bankrupt Atkins diet company.

"Blueberries will continue to be popular because people like to eat them," says Brazelton, whose nursery sells blueberry starter plants to commercial growers and home gardeners around the world.

"Blueberries are easy, fun, enjoyable, they taste good and they don't take away, they add to our lifestyle."

The blueberry pickers who showed up at the Green-Hill-Aire Blueberry Farm on Monday couldn't agree more.

"I like that I can freeze them and put them in smoothies all year long," said Sunny Waldorf of Eugene. "My whole family loves them."

While Green-Hill-Aire was selling pick-your-own berries for the same prices as last year - $13 for a 2 gallon bucket, plus all you can eat while picking - the price of berries has gone up elsewhere. At Mountain View Farm on the McKenzie Highway, fresh-picked berries were going for $3 a pound, 50 cents more than last year.

"We call it inflation," facilitator Carol Ach said. "Yes, the price of blueberries is high, because the price of gas is higher and the price of everything else is higher."

Mountain View has been selling 600 pounds of blueberries a day. Demand has been so high, Ach said, that she has yet to stock her own freezer or produce her family's famous private vintage blueberry juice.

Gene Versteeg, produce buyer for Market of Choice, said blueberry prices are up by $2.75 from last year for a 12-pint flat.

The height of blueberry mania hit two weeks ago, when local berries began arriving from growers in the Fall Creek area. Versteeg unloaded around 10 flats a day per store until the local supply dried up.

The stores are still selling berries from Hood River and southern Washington at $2.99 a pint for the conventional variety.

"We're selling more blueberries than we've ever sold," Versteeg said.

Julie Fether, head production baker for Palace Bakery in Eugene, said she has been baking less with blueberries this year because of the rising prices.

Nevertheless, the bakery has tried to continue to support local farmers without holding customers accountable.

Palace sells blueberry breakfast muffins and tarts for the same price and hasn't charged a premium for the blueberry cheesecakes and pies it supplies to Zenon Cafe.

"We just suck it up and deal with it," she said. `(We try) to work as locally and as seasonably as possible. We know it's been a tough fruit season.'

Besides this year's fruity weather, which included milder than normal temperatures in February and March, followed by rain and unseasonably cool temperatures in April and May, there have been other problems for blueberry farmers.

For Stan Hunsdon, owner of the Green-Hill-Aire farm, it came in the form of a fungus called "mummy berry," which attacked some of his less hardy varieties of plants.

Because his farm is organic, he cannot use pesticides to kill the disease.

Mummy berry turns leaves brown and infects blossoms, turning plump, round berries into ugly, shriveled fruit.

"It's a fungus that's raising h-e-l-l with some of the plants," Hunsdon said.

"They look like a berry that's been in an Egyptian tomb for 3 or 4 thousand years."

BLUEBERRIES FOR LIFE

Over the past decade blueberries have been found to have many health benefits. Here are a few of them:

Antioxidants: Blueberries rank No. 1 in antioxidant activity when compared with 40 other fresh fruits and vegetables.

Anti-aging: Blueberries slowed age-related loss in the mental capacity of laboratory rats.

Disease prevention: Blueberries may reduce the build-up of so-called "bad" cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Infection: A compound in blueberries promotes urinary tract health and reduces the risk of infection.

Eyes: Bilberries, the European cousin of blueberries, improve eyesight, thought to be due to anthocyanin in the blue pigment.

- U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council