Coville Blueberry

Coville is named directly after Frederick V. Coville, the real USDA botanist already documented in this database as half of the founding partnership, alongside New Jersey cranberry farmer Elizabeth White, that created the entire commercial blueberry industry starting in 1911. It was among the cultivars released from that same foundational breeding program, which produced 15 named varieties before Coville's death in 1937 and 14 more afterward from crosses he had already made — a body of work that, remarkably, still accounted for 75% of all US commercial blueberry acreage as of 1992. The fruit is large, firm, and highly aromatic, with a real, distinctively tart flavor profile that sets it apart from sweeter modern varieties, genuinely prized by growers and bakers who want a more assertive blueberry flavor for pies and preserves rather than straightforward sweetness.