It’s not quite time for blueberries, but if you just can’t wait for these late-summer treats, you can learn about Maine’s wild blueberry industry and pore over 16 mouth-watering recipes in “The Wild Blueberry Book” by Virginia M. Wright (Down East Books, $14.95).

The book includes interviews with a blueberry raker and a blueberry queen, a glossary that explains the difference between blueberry buckle and blueberry grunt, and a diagram that explains what goes on inside a blueberry packing plant.

You also learn some cool facts: The largest edible blueberry ever recorded, according to the book, weighed almost a quarter of an ounce and was almost an inch in diameter.

The recipes include a smoothie, a breakfast soup, duck breast with wild blueberry sauce, blueberry salsa and six blue-ribbon recipes for blueberry pie.

The downside to this book is that you’ll be pining for August – when native blueberries flood local farmers markets – in the middle of July, and a Maine summer is short enough as it is.

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