If you are not sure you read the title of this post correctly, rub your eyes, and read it again. Yes, blueberry pizza. Blueberries are in season right now around Ibaraki, and you have a lot of choices on where to go to buy your blueberries. Sure you can go to Ushiku, Ishioka, Joso, or Naka city to go get your blueberry fix. And a lot of those places sell organic delicious blueberries. But there is one place in Tsukuba that blew my mind and impressed me with their blueberries, menu, and innovation. That place is Aonisai Farm.
Aonisai Farm
Aonisai Farm is located in the Kamigo area of Tsukuba. My wife and I went there one warm Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. The parking area for this farm is right next to the blueberry trees, where customers can go pick their own blueberries.
We both walked up to the small two story building of Aonisai Farm and waited in line to order while we watched the staff run around getting blueberries and blueberry treats ready for customers.
Inside (2nd floor)
If you order anything to eat at this farm, you have three dining places to sit down and enjoy your blueberry delight.
The previous picture of the Aonisai Farm building shows you the outside dining area. There are tents above the picnic tables to block out the sun for those hot summer days. There is also one table with a mosquito net around it, in case you are the type of person (like me) who gets bitten by mosquitoes all the time.
If you prefer air conditioning, head into the farm's building. There are two floors to choose from. The first floor, is a bit small and you have to take off your shoes to get in. This floor has the ticket vending machine to place your order as well.
The second floor has a bit more space and you can keep your shoes on.
The Menu
Unfortunately, the menu is only in Japanese. I did not see an English menu. Not to worry. I'll explain the menu.
The top left side of the menu is the blueberry picking option. Adults are 1,750yen, kids are 1,200 yen. This is the one pack option, and one pack is 120g. So you pick about 120g worth of blueberries, and you can also taste the different blueberries available and pick which types you want in your pack.
Below that is the pizza. The farm has margarita pizza, blueberry pizza (which I highly recommend), and the salad pizza.
Under that is the side menu. Only two options for this one: fries and chicken nuggets.
The last part of this side of the menu is the dessert option. You have your choice of blueberry ice cream, blueberry shaved ice, or Aonisai's waffle dessert which comes with ice cream.
Now, we move to the right side of the menu.
First, are the prepackaged blueberry packs. One pack, the same 120g, is 600 yen. Or you can get 4 packs for 2,400 yen.
Below that are the jams. Blueberry jam and the seasonal special jam.
After that are the drinks: Juice, tea, and coffee. The special drinks are Blueberry Fizz (very delicious and refreshing) and blueberry smoothie.
Blueberry Jam, Blueberry Fizz, and Blueberry Pack
After waiting for a little while, my wife and I finally made our way to the ticket vending machine and ordered. We gave our tickets to the staff and waited at the outside dining area. The blueberry pizza was going to take some time to make, so our first three orders came out before the pizza.
Let me begin with the blueberry fizz. A delicious soda with blueberries inside. I mentioned before that it was a warm day, so this drink was a perfect remedy for the humid heat. We got that cool fizzy feeling at the back of our throat which was a nice sensation. We also sometimes got a blueberry go up the straw, which was a nice little surprise.
Next were the blueberries. My wife and I ate these at home, not at the farm. We put them in some yogurt and I have to say these blueberries made our yogurt ten times better. The blueberries are so fresh and juicy. They just pop in your mouth when you bite down on them, giving you a great feeling of statisfaction and bliss.
We also tried the blueberry jam at home. My wife made some toast in the morning and we spread that amazing looking jam on our toast. The result was an incredible piece of toast that I remembered for the rest of that day. The jam was very fresh and very flavorful with round blueberries in the jam. I only wish that I could have this blueberry jam for breakfast everyday.
Blueberry Picking
Earlier, I wrote in the menu section that you can go blueberry picking at Aonisai Farm. Unfortunately, when my wife and I visited Aonisai Farm, we were on a tight schedule so we couldn't go blueberry picking. I was able to go inside the blueberry picking area and check it out. The picking area is huge. There are rows and rows or blueberry trees to choose from. A lot of those trees have multiple delicious looking blueberries ready to be picked. There is also a picnic table with chairs in case you need to rest for a bit. Blueberry picking season at Aonisai Farm is from June until the end (I think) of August. The Ibaraki Eats Duo hopes we can go blueberry picking before the season is over.
Blueberry Pizza
Now, we come to the main event of my post, the blueberry pizza. Some of you must be thinking, "are you serious? This is pizza blasphemy!" I assure you, it is delicious blasphemy.
My wife and I were very lucky when we ordered this pizza. There were only two blueberry pizzas left and we grabbed the second to last one. This pizza is really popular, so it sells out fast during the weekend. As I stated before, we were on a time crunch so we decided to have two slices of pizza at the outside eating area of the farm and take the rest home.
I bit into my slice of blueberry pizza and had the following emotions in this order: deliciousness; confusion; deliciousness; more confusion about how the cheese works so well; and bliss. That slice of heavenly blueberry pizza is probably the best dessert pizza I have had in quite a while. The blast of flavors you get when you bite into a slice of this amazing pizza is something that you will remember fondly, long after you leave Aonisai Farm. I was a bit worried about having warm blueberries, but honestly, that made the pizza ten times better. I am not one hundred percent sure what type of cheese was used since the blueberry was the strongest flavor in the pizza (probably mozzarella), but the cheese went splendidly with the blueberry jam. The pizza crust was amazing as well. I wanted to put more jam on the crust which I will definitely do next time. It was an incredible dessert pizza which I want to have again before this blueberry season is over.
Aonisai Farm is a great blueberry experience that all Ibarakians should have. Be it their blueberries, blueberry jam, or their fantastic blueberry pizza, everyone should try these amazing treats. You might even have Aonisai's blueberries at different markets, restaurants, and events. I know that Troppo Donut (which I will talk about next week) uses Aonisai's blueberries in their blueberry donut. So you might see their blueberries at your local place soon!
So if you are a lover of blueberries and want to have an amazing blueberry experience, why not give Aonisai Farm a try. Who knows, you might see me there, relaxing after my blueberry picking adventure and digging into a fantastic blueberry pizza.
Enjoy!
For more information on Aonisai Farm, check out their website:
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