Each summer season season from early June by means of August, a minimal of as rapidly as per week, you’ll uncover me up early, berry basket in hand, heading to our native pick-your-own berry farm. (We’re fortunate ample to have an amazing pure berry farm merely down the freeway.)
I favor to get all of my choosing achieved prior to the warmth of the day makes it insufferable.
I’ve this annoying conduct of being a pasty-white particular specific individual, so the mere stage out of picture voltaic and I flip correct proper right into a steamed lobster.
Strawberries, pink and black currants, blackberries, gooseberries, and my private favourite – blueberries all find yourself coming house with me. Some get made into jam instantly, others go correct proper right into a batch of mead, and nonetheless others I freeze so we’re able to have the benefit of native berries all 12 months extended.
Blueberries are the home favourite, so we uncover your self choosing spherical 20 quarts or additional over the blueberry season. Smoothies, pancakes, muffins, scones and even blueberry syrup all kind 1,000,000 conditions bigger in the midst of winter if you make them alongside together with your personal or native berries.
These frozen grocery retailer berries don’t think about, and the worth for contemporary berries in January is astronomical.
Whenever you concern all through the carbon value of getting these tiny cartons of berries to your grocery retailer and the ecological prices of consuming out of season, these flavorless berries aren’t value it.
So, we put the work in now.
In reality, rising your personal blueberries is an outstanding cheaper different, plus you get to resolve on the variability. This season, I bought to kind the Chandler number of blueberriesand I’m hooked!
To get buckets of blueberries 12 months after 12 months, I’ve put collectively this handy blueberry rising information. It’s one difficulty to poke some bushes all through the flooring and hope for the correct, and one totally different difficulty altogether to know what to do to make sure a wonderful yield. It’s a wonderful be taught; you’ll need to strive it out.
After getting a substantial amount of blueberries, it frequently helps to have some blueberry recipe inspiration when deciding what to do with all of them.
Wherever you find yourself getting your blueberries, freezing them is a superb methodology to be sure you can have the benefit of these tasty treats year-round.
Freezing blueberries is simple to do and requires no particular devices earlier a sheet pan. Many berries with higher water content material materials supplies or thinner skins don’t freeze all that appropriately and find yourself a mushy mess even when frozen. Blueberries, then as soon as extra, freeze fantastically. Granted, they could nonetheless be cozy when thawed.
Why Are My Berries Mild and Squishy As quickly as I Thaw Them?
Whenever you freeze blueberries, the water inside them freezes into tiny ice crystals. These crystals penetrate the cell partitions of the berries. That’s glorious whereas the berries are frozen, however after they thaw, now the cells of the berry have misplaced their structural integrity, so the berry might be cozy and barely mushy.
As quickly as you utilize frozen blueberries for baking or factors like pancakes, it’s finest so as in order so as to add the blueberries whereas they’re nonetheless frozen. This might guarantee regardless of you’re making doesn’t find yourself being completely purple and would possibly assist the berries shield their type whereas they put collectively dinner.
In reality, in case you occur to wish to make a batch of blueberry basil mead, I terribly advocate that you just merely freeze your blueberries and thaw them first. Doing so helps launch the juices, and different folks mushy berries make for bigger mead.
Okay, let’s freeze some blueberries.
Wash Your Berries
It’s essential to rinse your berries prior to you freeze them. Washing them as rapidly as they’ve thawed is kind of unattainable as they’re going to be fairly cozy. Berries rising nearer to the underside are usually soiled from rain splashing mud and filth on them.
Rinse your berries appropriately in chilly water. I favor to fill my sink with chilly water and provides them a wonderful swish prior to scooping them out correct proper right into a colander. Then I’ll give them one totally different good rinse with my sink sprayer.
Dry Your Berries
This subsequent step could also be a very extremely efficient, because of it’s what’s going on to make sure your berries gained’t stick collectively as rapidly as they’re frozen. You’ll want to verify your berries are completely dry prior to freezing them, or they could stick collectively in an infinite frozen mass.
To dry the berries, I put down various kitchen towels on my counter or desk and gently unfold the berries out correct proper right into a single layer. I try to verify they’ve a substantial amount of room and good airflow, so all of them dry appropriately.
Now, go do one issue else for an hour or so whereas they dry. It’s summertime; there’s frequently one issue that must be achieved, appropriate?
Freeze Your Blueberries
As rapidly as a result of the berries are completely dry, gently unfold them out on a sheet pan. Make sure the blueberries are in a single layer. You presumably can cram fairly varied on there. Place the sheet pan all through the freezer for 2 hours or till the berries are frozen sturdy.
Bundle deal Your Blueberries
Working shortly, so that they don’t start to thaw or perspire, swap the berries to their ultimate container destined for the freezer. Since they aren’t caught collectively in frozen clumps, likelihood is you will retailer them in a plastic tub, a freezer bag, or my most well-liked methodology, a vacuum seal bag.
A phrase about vacuum sealing
In case your vacuum sealer has a light-weight setting, it’s doable chances are you’ll want to make use of that. In one other case, the berries might be sealed fairly tightly all through the bag. This isn’t primarily an issue whereas frozen, nonetheless it makes for extra mushy berries as they thaw. Give your berries room to breathe.
Correct proper right here’s a hyperlink to the vacuum sealer I personal; it’s low cost, an amazing sealer, and I want it fairly a bit I’ve purchased varied for relations as objects.
And that’s that – straightforward frozen blueberries.
Now if you get a hankering for blueberries, you’ll merely have the flexibleness to seize a handful for snacking, two cups for muffins, a complete bag for a pie, regardless of you want with out having to attempt to interrupt off a bit little bit of icy blueberry mash.
I want to make use of these frozen blueberries as scrumptious edible ice cubes and would possibly usually seize a handful to plop in my switchel or lemonade.
Come January, you’ll really respect the hassle you place into choosing, cleansing and freezing. Hmm, now I would like blueberry pancakes.
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