Fresh Blueberry Syrup (for Blueberry drinks)

Blueberries are some kind of crazy good-for-you food. Like, super good. Fountain of youth good (don't quote me on that). But, once baked into a pie, their greatness gets cancelled out a bit, so, have blueberry juice. How freakin' refreshing would THAT be! Alton Brown (whose show "Good Eats" I have taken to DVRing, in case you hadn't noticed) didn't mention anything about the alcoholic applications of this, but I think it would make a wicked blueberry martini!

4 cups of blueberries
2 cups of water
7 oz of sugar
1 oz lime juice

1) Bring the blueberries and water just to a boil, then reduce the heat and let them simmer for 15 minutes
2) Drain them into a cheesecloth-lined collander that's sitting in a nice deep bowl, and let them cool for 15 minutes (so you don't burn yourself when it comes to step 3
3) Pick up the corners of your cheesecloth, and wring it out, getting as much of the juice out as you can
4) Return the juice to your original saucepan, add the sugar and lime juice, and bring to a boil for 2 mins till the sugar dissolves (give it a bit of a stir of course)
5) Pour it into a heat-proof glass jar that you have a lid for
6) Let cool for an hour
7) Store in fridge. Alton leads me to believe that this would keep from 6 months to forever)

To use: mix 1/4 cup of the blueberry syrup with 8 oz of carbonated or seltzer water, serve over ice.

You'll have to find your own blueberry martini recipe, but, I imagine it would just involve reducing the amount of seltzer water and adding vodka or something.

I'm SO going blueberry picking this summer and making this syrup. And my aunt's no-bake blueberry pie thats also somewhere on this blog.

Summer Blueberry Pie

This is practically a no-bake pie, as it doesn't go into the oven once you've filled it with the berries. This leaves the blueberries firm and sweet, but not syrupy, and the pie is light and delicious, and gentle on the palate. With the addition of a little whipped cream, this is a perfect summer desert.

Ingredients
2 T cornstarch
2 T & 1 C water
1 C & 4 C of fresh blueberries (frozen will not do)
3/4 C sugar
1 pre-baked pie crust (yours, or your local grocery store's)

Directions
In a bowl , dissolve cornstarch and water and set aside.
In a saucepan , boil 1 cup of blueberries with 1 cup water, pressing fruit to make puree
Add sugar and the dissolved cornstarch and boil 5min or until mixture becomes a clear syrup. Remove from heat and add 4 cups of blueberries.
Pour berry mixture into 1 pie crust baked and refrigerate for 2 hrs before serving
Garnish with whipped cream or ice cream