National Blueberry Popover Day (March 10th)

Quick facts
When is it?	Every March 10th
Tagged as:	Food & Drink Fruit Pastry
What's the hashtag?	#NationalBlueberryPopoverDay
We first published this page on:	Dec 23rd, 2017
We last updated this page:	Feb 9th, 2026

Contents

The powers that be in the culinary world offer us another yummy holiday, National Blueberry Popover Day! Not turnover (triangle shaped pastry) but POPover!

Run, don’t walk, to the kitchen to try these interesting and flavorsome treats.

National Blueberry Popover Day Timeline

1737

Early Printed Recipe for “Dripping Pudding”

The anonymous English cookbook The Whole Duty of a Woman includes an early recipe for “a dripping pudding,” a simple flour-and-egg batter cooked under roasting meat, which anticipates later Yorkshire pudding and popover-style dishes.

1747

Yorkshire Pudding Is Popularized in Print

In The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, English author Hannah Glasse publishes a recipe titled “Yorkshire pudding,” helping standardize the savory baked batter that later inspires similar light, hollow breads in America.

1876

One of the First Printed American “Pop-Over” Recipes

Mary F. Henderson’s cookbook Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving includes a recipe for “pop-overs,” describing a thin, eggy batter baked in individual cups so that the breads puff up and form a hollow interior.

1911

Scientific Work on Domesticating Blueberries

USDA botanist Frederick V. Coville publishes “Experiments in Blueberry Culture,” outlining the soil, climate, and breeding requirements needed to cultivate highbush blueberries reliably instead of relying only on wild foraging.

1916

Partnership Launches Commercial Blueberry Growing

New Jersey grower Elizabeth Coleman White partners with Frederick V. Coville to release named varieties of highbush blueberries, marking the start of a dependable commercial blueberry industry that supplies fruit for bakers nationwide.

The popover is an American twist on a Yorkshire pudding. Reportedly popular with settlers in Portland Oregon the treat was known as a Portland popover.

Culinary records date the Yorkshire pudding from the 17th Century. The first time that the popover shows up in a cookbook was in 1876. The book was called Practical Cooking by M.N. Henderson.

There are so many variations of popover that you can fit them to suit any occasion. The base is a simple batter made with eggs, milk, flour and salt.

By adding herbs and meat a savory roll is created. Make it sweet by filling with custard or cream and of course blueberries! Make with the simple batter for a buttery classic that will have a huge wow factor when serving.

To celebrate National Blueberry Popover Day head out to the garden and pick some blueberries, or easier, grab some at the market! Blueberries are usually always available at the store, so if you don’t have fresh or it is out of season, you can always satisfy the craving for popovers.

When you get the berries home, make sure to give them a good rinse to wash before adding to the batter!

When you have the berries on hand it is time to pick a recipe. This might be a good time to see if there is a family favorite as this is a classic treat that is sure to have been made by many generations!

If you are in need of a new recipe, head over to the internet and you will be rewarded with many options. The options are most likely going to be very similar as these are very simple to make.

To properly celebrate, you’ll need to have an audience for your “tada!” moment! So, call upon spouses, children, family or friends to join you for a sweet treat! When you set these on the table you will have become a baking hero to your loved ones!

Even in today’s fast paced life, taking an extra hour out to offer this little bit of homemade goodness is a great way to show how much you love those around you. They will be sure to shower you with smiles in return thinking your culinary magic was much more difficult than it is.

The recipe is so easy that even children who are new to the kitchen can help. What a way to inspire the next generation of bakers!Use National Blueberry Popover Day to make memories in the kitchen that can last a lifetime.

It may even be a moment in time that can begin a love affair with the culinary world! Did you snap pictures of your creations? Use #BlueberryPopoverDay to share your experience on social media.

Use National Blueberry Popover Day to make memories in the kitchen that can last a lifetime. It may even be a moment in time that can begin a love affair with the culinary world! Did you snap pictures of your creations? Use #BlueberryPopoverDay to share your experience on social media.

Steam Is the Only “Leavening” Popovers Need

Unlike many breads and cakes that rely on yeast or chemical leaveners, classic popovers rise almost entirely on steam.

A thin batter of eggs, milk, and flour is poured into very hot, greased pans; as moisture rapidly turns to steam, it expands and stretches the batter, while egg proteins coagulate to hold the tall, hollow structure in place.

Yorkshire Pudding Began as a Way to Catch Dripping Fat

Popovers are closely related to Yorkshire pudding, which originated in England as “dripping pudding,” a batter cooked beneath roasting meat so it could catch and cook in the hot fat.

An early recipe appeared in the 1737 collection The Whole Duty of a Woman, and the dish was later popularized as “Yorkshire pudding” in Hannah Glasse’s influential 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.

Popovers Entered American Cookbooks in the 19th Century

The dish recognizable today as an American popover appeared in print in the late 19th century, when Mary F. Henderson’s 1876 cookbook Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving included one of the earliest known U.S. popover recipes.

By that time, the batter-based pudding had shifted from a meat-drippings side to a stand‑alone bread served with butter, jam, or other fillings.

Blueberries Were First Domesticated in New Jersey

Although wild blueberries are native to North America and were used for centuries by Indigenous peoples, the modern cultivated highbush blueberry is surprisingly recent.

Agricultural scientist Frederick Vernon Coville and New Jersey farmer Elizabeth White successfully bred and commercialized highbush blueberries in the early 1900s, with the first commercial harvest shipped from New Jersey in 1916.

Blueberries Get Their Color from Anthocyanins

The deep blue and purple hue of blueberries comes from anthocyanins, a group of water‑soluble pigments concentrated in the skin.

These compounds act as antioxidants in the body and are a key reason blueberries consistently rank high in measures of antioxidant capacity among commonly eaten fruits.

Regular Blueberry Intake Has Been Linked to Heart Health

Large prospective studies have found that people who regularly eat foods rich in anthocyanins, particularly blueberries and strawberries, tend to have a lower risk of heart attack.

In one study of over 93,000 women, those consuming the most anthocyanins from berries had a significantly reduced risk of myocardial infarction compared with those eating the least, even after adjusting for overall diet and lifestyle.

Blueberries May Support Brain Function as People Age

Controlled trials suggest that blueberry consumption can benefit certain aspects of cognitive function in older adults.

In a randomized, double‑blind study, older participants who drank wild blueberry juice daily for 12 weeks showed improvements in memory tests and reduced symptoms of depression compared with a placebo group, pointing to a potential neuroprotective role for blueberry polyphenols.

National Blueberry Popover Day FAQs

What is the difference between a popover and a traditional Yorkshire pudding?

Popover and Yorkshire pudding use very similar batters of eggs, milk, flour, and salt, but they differ mainly in fat and how they are served.

Yorkshire pudding is traditionally baked in very hot beef drippings or other animal fat and served as a savory side with roast meats, while American popovers typically use butter or neutral oil and are more often served as a versatile roll that can be either sweet or savory.

Popovers also tend to be baked in tall, straight-sided tins that emphasize height, whereas Yorkshire puddings are frequently made in shallow tins around a roast or in muffin-style pans.

How do popovers rise so high without yeast or baking powder?

Popovers rely on steam rather than chemical leaveners. Their thin batter has a high proportion of liquid and eggs, and it goes into a very hot oven in preheated pans.

As the moisture in the batter rapidly turns to steam, it expands and pushes the batter up the sides of the cups, creating a tall shell with a hollow center.

The eggs then set the structure so it holds its shape once baked. Proper oven heat and not opening the door during the first part of baking are crucial to getting that dramatic rise.

Why are popover pans often recommended instead of regular muffin tins?

Popover pans are deeper and usually have narrower, straighter sides than standard muffin tins, which encourages the batter to climb upward and form a taller, more dramatic puff with a large hollow interior.

Many popover pans also space the cups farther apart, which allows hot air to circulate more evenly around each one so they brown and rise better.

While muffin tins can be used, they tend to produce shorter, less airy results because of their shallower depth and closer spacing.

What are some common mistakes that cause popovers to collapse or not rise properly?

Cooks often run into trouble when the oven and pan are not fully preheated, the batter is too cold or too thick, or the oven door is opened early in baking.

Inadequate heat or opening the door lets steam escape before the structure sets, which can cause popovers to deflate. Overfilling the cups can also prevent full expansion, while underbaking leaves the interior too moist to hold its shape.

Using room-temperature ingredients, keeping the oven closed, and baking until the exterior is deeply browned help prevent collapse.

Do fresh and frozen blueberries behave differently in baking?

Fresh and frozen blueberries are both widely used in baking, but they behave a bit differently.

Fresh berries tend to hold their shape better and may bleed less into the batter, giving more distinct pockets of fruit. Frozen berries can release more juice as they thaw in the oven, which may tint the batter and slightly soften the structure around them.

Many bakers add frozen berries straight from the freezer to minimize bleeding and adjust baking time slightly if needed.

What nutritional benefits do blueberries add to a rich baked treat?

Blueberries are relatively low in calories and provide dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and manganese, along with a high concentration of polyphenol antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins that give them their deep blue color.

Research links regular berry consumption with markers of better heart and metabolic health.

While adding blueberries does not turn a butter- and egg-rich pastry into a health food, it does contribute beneficial nutrients and phytochemicals that are not present in refined flour and sugar alone.

How did Yorkshire pudding evolve into American-style popovers?

Yorkshire pudding originated in England as a way to cook a simple batter beneath roasting meat so it could absorb flavorful drippings.

When British culinary traditions crossed the Atlantic, cooks in New England adapted the idea using the same basic batter but baked it in individual cups instead of under a roast.

Over time, American versions shifted from beef drippings to butter or vegetable fat and were served not only with meat but also with jam, butter, or sweet fillings, which led to the lighter, more flexible popover style known today.