Blueberry Facts, Picking Tips, Canning Directions and Recipes

2010: Crops are great this year, all over - no late frost!

Blueberries are one of the easiest fruit to prepare and serve. There’s no peeling, pitting, coring or cutting. They have few natural pests, (other than birds), so pesticides are generally unnecessary!

Picking tips:

Select plump, full blueberries with a light gray-blue color. A berry with any hint of red isn't fully ripened. White and green colored blueberries will not ripen after they are picked; while blueberries that have already turned purple, red or blue-ish usually DO ripen after they are picked (if they are kept at room temperature to ripen).

Since blueberries hang on the bushes in bunches a but like grapes do, the easiest and fastest way to pick them is hold your bucket under them in one hand and with your other hand, cup a ripe bunch and gently rub them with your fingers.  The ripe berries will drop into your bucket, while the unripe ones will remain attached to the bush. I can easily pick 2 gallons per hour (if I'm not being distracted by the kids and the sun isn't too hot!).  A newbie might do 1 gallon per hour.

Blueberry Measurements and Conversions

Keep in mind that blueberries vary in density and moisture content, so these ranges are approximates.

• 1 pint of fresh blueberries weights about 3/4 of a pound.

• 1 pound of fresh blueberries is  about 2 and 2/3 cups of berries.

• It takes about 4 cups (about  of blueberries to make a blueberry pie (see this fantastic and easy blueberry pie recipe)

• A normal batch of blueberry preserves, jam or jelly requires 5 pints of berries.

• Once picked, don't place the berries, still warm from the sun, in a closed bag or container. Leave the container open so moisture doesn't form in the container.
• Don't wash berries until just before using to prevent berries from becoming mushy.
• Chill berries soon after picking to increase shelf life.  If refrigerated, fresh-picked blueberries will keep 10 to 14 days.
• Freeze berries in freezer containers without washing to keep the skins from toughening.  Place berries one layer deep. Freeze, then pour the frozen berries into freezer containers. Because unwashed blueberries freeze individually, they can be easily poured from containers in desired amounts. Remember both frozen and fresh berries should be rinsed and drained just before serving. Just before using, wash the berries in cold water.
• Blueberries are ranked No. 1 in antioxidant activity compared with 40 other commercially available fruits and vegetables. That means a serving of blueberries has more of the antioxidant power you need to fight aging, cancer and heart disease.
• Put this in your pipe! Indians in the Northwest Territory smoked wild blueberries to preserve them for the winter. (Bet you didn't know that!)
• Want to grow your own blueberries?  Here's an article about how to: Growing Blueberries in the Home Garden, HYG-1422-98
• Weights and measures: 1 cup of blueberries normally weighs about 143 grams, which about 1/3 of a pound, so 1 pound of blueberries is almost 3 cup's worth. Of course, this can vary considerably based on the variety, weather conditions and degree of ripeness. Typically, many recipes call for 3 to 4 pounds of blueberries for a 9 inch pie.
• Nutrition and miscellaneous facts:  1 cup  (143 grams) of blueberries is 84 calories (technically, kcal).  Blueberries contain no cholesterol or fat and are also low in calories. Blueberries are high in dietary fiber, Vitamin A and niacin. They contain iron and other trace minerals and are a fair source of Vitamin C.  Blueberries have a diverse range of micronutrients, with notably high levels (relative to respective Dietary Reference Intakes) of the essential dietary mineral manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber (table below). One serving provides a relatively low glycemic load score of 4 out of 100 per day.
  Especially in wild species, blueberries contain anthocyanins, other antioxidant pigments and various phytochemicals possibly having a role in reducing risks of some diseases, including inflammation and different cancers. Blueberries may have anti-disease effects, too. Researchers have shown that blueberry anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, flavonols, and tannins inhibit mechanisms of cancer cell development and inflammation in vitro. Similar to red grape, some blueberry species contain in their skins significant levels of resveratrol, a phytochemical with increasing evidence as an anti-cancer compound.[source: Wikipedia]

Blueberry nutritional values, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 60 kcal   240 kJ

Recipes

• The world's best Blueberry pie, recipe and directions and illustrated!
• Blueberry buckle coffee cake: illustrated directions for this great crumb-topping blueberry coffee cake
• Other easy directions to make blueberry desserts: cobblers, etc.

Canning and freezing the blueberries:

• How to Freeze Blueberries
• How to Can Blueberries
• How to Make Homemade Blueberry Jam
• How to make blueberry jelly
• How to make and can blueberry syrup (it works for strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, too)
• blueberry pie filling to use later,
• blueberry butter

Baking tips

If you have trouble with blueberries settling to the bottom of muffins and blueberry breads, try one or more of these tips:

• Coat them with flour before adding to the batter. Just gently shake the blueberries in a bag (plastic or paper) with 1/2 cup of flour, then dump them mix in a sieve to remove excess flour.
• It may just be that your batter is too thin. try making the batter a little thicker!
• Fill the muffin cups or baking pan up to 1/4 full with batter (which hasn't had blueberries added to it yet); then stir the blueberries into the remaining batter, and continue to fill the muffin cups or bread pan. The blueberries will start off higher in the mix!

Blueberry Festivals

The US Highbush Blueberry Council hasn't updated their blueberry festivals page in 2 years, so I researched, added to, updated it, and put the current information on a new page - click here for the blueberry festivals page.

Blueberry Questions and Answers

Q. We would like to purchase some blueberry plants and plant them this November.  Where can we purchase some nice size plants ?

A. There are 4 options:
    1.     Local nursery
    2.    Mail order
    3.    Big box store (Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart)
    4. Free shoots dug from a neighbors plants

Being shallow rooted, blueberry bushes are constantly sending shoots off the side roots. These well started planted shoots can be dug with a generous portion of root and replanted. Just be sure: get plenty of root, mulch and fertilize annually and water sufficiently, especially the first year. Replant in late fall or early winter. Cut off about 1/3 of the shoot so the root system matches the top. Find a friend with a blueberry patch and help yourself!

I’ve been very disappointed with the blueberry bushes I ordered from mail order nurseries – the plants were tiny (6 inches or so).   The ones at my local Wal-Mart usually looked pretty pathetic. In my experience, Lowes and Home Depot usually have big (2 ft tall) healthy plants that are suited to your local climate. Beware mislabeled plants - I've purchased plants from big box stores which were not the variety on the label, although that was peaches and apples, not blueberries.

The local nurseries often have nice stock, but my local nursery's prices were pretty high, unless I wait for an end of season sale.. I’ve been happy with the one’s at Lowe’s and Home Depot!

Q. My Mom always told me to put my freshly picked blueberries into a bowl of water. She said the ones that float have bugs in them or are bad. How can I tell if this is true?

A. That’s just an old wives’ tale. Some float because they are less dense, which may be due to a variety of causes, only rarely because a bug is inside. The only pest I’ve heard of getting inside a blueberry is the blueberry maggot, which affects some plants in the north eastern US and parts of Canada.  

Here are the methods to detect the presence of the pest in blueberries, according to the Ontario Ministry of Agroculture

Methods for Detecting Blueberry Maggot Larvae in Blueberry Fruit

Hot Water Test

1. Place 1 litre (2 pints) of berries in pot.
2. Nearly cover the berries with water.
3. Bring berries and water to a frothy boil and boil for at least 1 minute.
4. Empty berries into a 4-mesh-per-inch screen.
5. Gently crush berries in screen with the back of a spoon.
6. Rinse berries with cold running water and collect water and solids in a pan with a black bottom.
7. Allow the debris to settle and Decant floating solids and most of the water.
8. Repeat washing and Decanting until water is clear.
9. White maggots will be visible against the black bottom of the pan.

Brown Sugar Test

Sugar concentration = 2 lbs (1 kg) brown sugar per 1.2 gallons (5 litres) of water.

1. Place 1 litre (2 pints) of berries in a 4-litre (1 gallon) container.
2. Gently crush berries in container.
3. Add sugar concentrate to 3 cm above crushed berries.
4. Agitate crushed berries in sugar solution.
5. Allow maggots to float to surface.

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