Berry season is right here! And if blueberries are your jam (See what I did there?), you in all probability get pleasure from tossing them in your morning yogurt, right into a smoothie or straight in your mouth.
Whether or not you’re choosing from your personal blueberry bushes, hitting up the native u-pick farm, or having fun with this seasonal fruit out of your native market, there are some things you must learn about storing them recent. It solely takes a couple of minutes to make sure your blueberries keep plump, juicy and candy for days.
It’s all the time disappointing once you’ve received blueberries in your thoughts, and also you go to seize some solely to seek out moldy purple blobs or wrinkly blueberry stones.
It’s an entire different degree of disappointment once you’ve grown them your self or spent the time to go someplace and choose them. Storing recent blueberries appropriately is crucial if you wish to keep away from this type of crushing disappointment very first thing within the morning when making your breakfast smoothie.
Fortunately, it solely takes a couple of minutes of prep work to make recent blueberries final. Comply with these steps as quickly as you get your blueberries house, and also you’ll get pleasure from them for weeks slightly than days.
Examine and Take away Broken Blueberries
Earlier than you do anything, choose over your blueberries and take away any which can be broken, moldy, or overripe. You don’t need to eat these anyway. These little buggers will trigger the opposite berries round them to spoil sooner.
Don’t Wash the Berries Till You’re Able to Use Them
One of many worst issues you are able to do with recent berries is wash them and put them within the fridge. It’s all the time greatest to scrub blueberries simply earlier than you eat or prepare dinner with them. Extra moisture can result in mildew progress and a shorter shelf life. And relying on the place you retailer them in your fridge, the leftover water can freeze, inflicting mushy berries.
Refrigerate Instantly
Place the unwashed blueberries in a clear, dry container. Select a big, shallow dish versus one thing deep. Berries are delicate and bruise simply. As soon as you start heaping them on prime of themselves, you’ll inevitably crush the berries on the backside. Seal the container with a lid or hermetic wrap and tuck them within the fridge as quickly as potential.
U-pick Tip
When you plan on choosing blueberries at a farm, pack a cooler with ice packs to place your berries in for the journey house. Cooling the sun-warmed blueberries off and holding them cool till you get house will guarantee they last more.
Preferrred Temperature and Humidity
Blueberries want applicable temperature and humidity in the event that they’re going to final various days. As I’ve simply famous, the fridge is the most effective place to retailer them. Nonetheless, the place you set them within the fridge is simply as essential. If in case you have a spot in your fridge that will get particularly chilly, don’t retailer your blueberries there. Your crisper drawer is the most effective location for blueberries.
Let Your Blueberries Breathe
Blueberries must be saved in a container that permits air flow. You don’t need moisture or condensation to construct up, which might trigger moldy berries. Storebought blueberries already are available in packaging with vents. When you use plastic wrap to cowl your container, poke a number of small holes in it. Even higher, use foil, because it’s simple to recycle or reuse and far simpler to poke holes in.
Preserve Them Out of the Solar
We regularly neglect about mild as a think about spoilage. Whereas these blueberries would possibly look nice in your fancy ceramic berry bowl below the golden daylight splashed throughout your counter, they’ll spoil a lot sooner. Once more, the most effective place for blueberries is in your good darkish, chilly fridge.
Eat Them
I do know, this complete article is meant to be about extending how lengthy you need to eat them. However like all produce, blueberries style greatest when eaten instantly. You’ve received a few week earlier than the flavour and texture start to say no. I’m not saying they’ll go off a cliff when you hit that 7-day mark, simply that you just’ve received a brief window earlier than “Oh my gosh, wonderful blueberries!” turns into, “These are fairly good blueberries.”
When you want some concepts on what to make we’ve received fairly just a few.
Freeze Them
When you’ve received plans to make jam or protect the berries in one other method however can’t get to them instantly, you possibly can all the time freeze them. Whereas freezing the blueberries will inevitably result in comfortable, squishy blueberries as soon as they thaw, it’s higher than shedding them to spoilage.
When you’re inquisitive about why frozen blueberries all the time find yourself comfortable, you possibly can examine it right here, the place I present you how you can freeze blueberries so that they don’t stick collectively.
Don’t Retailer Extra Than You Want
I’m horrible at this one. I all the time overestimate what number of blueberries I’ll eat recent. To assist reduce meals waste, solely retailer as many recent berries as you assume you’ll eat in per week. You’ll be able to simply freeze the remainder and never really feel responsible about pitching wrinkly blueberries in your compost later.
Bear in mind, recent blueberries are a kind of “extremely perishable” perishables, so that they want just a little TLC when dealing with and storing them. However the reward in your additional care is berries which can be simply as tasty because the day you picked them per week and even two later.
Lastly, one of the best ways to retailer recent blueberries for consuming is correct on the bush. When you’ve received the house, think about rising these scrumptious berries your self. We’ve received all of the secrets and techniques to a fantastic blueberry harvest, from correct pruning to when to fertilize them.
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Together with Sunday ramblings from our editor, Tracey, in addition to “What’s Up Wednesday” our roundup of what’s in season and new article updates and alerts.
Tracey Besemer
Hey there, my title is Tracey. I’m the editor-in-chief right here at Rural Sprout.Lots of our readers already know me from our common Sunday newsletters. (You’re signed up for our newsletters, proper?) Every Sunday, I ship a pleasant missive from my neck of the woods in Pennsylvania. It’s a bit like sitting on the entrance porch with a good friend, discussing our gardens over a cup of tea.
Initially from upstate NY, I’m now an honorary Pennsylvanian, having lived right here for the previous 18 years.
I grew up spending weekends on my dad’s off-the-grid homestead, the place I spent a lot of my childhood roaming the woods and getting my fingers soiled.
I discovered how you can do issues most little youngsters haven’t performed in over a century.
Whether or not it was urgent apples within the fall for do-it-yourself cider, trudging via the early spring snows of upstate NY to faucet timber for maple syrup, or canning every thing that grew within the backyard in the summertime – there have been all the time new adventures with every season.
As an grownup, I proceed to attract on the talents I discovered as a child. I like my Wi-Fi and realizing pizza is simply a cellphone name away. And I’m okay with by no means revisiting the journey that’s utilizing an outhouse in the midst of January.
Nowadays, I are usually virtually a homesteader.
I take an eclectic method to homesteading, using fashionable comfort the place I would like and selecting the country methods of my childhood as they go well with me.
I’m a agency believer in self-sufficiency, irrespective of the place you reside, and the facility and delight that comes from doing one thing for your self.
I’ve all the time had a backyard, even when the one house accessible was the roof of my condo constructing. I’ve been knitting since age seven, and I spin and dye my very own wool as effectively. When you can ferment it, it’s in all probability in my pantry or on my kitchen counter. And I can’t go various days with no journey into the woods in search of mushrooms, edible vegetation, or the sound of the wind within the timber.
You’ll be able to comply with my private (loopy) homesteading adventures on Almost a Homesteader and Instagram as @aahomesteader.
Peace, love, and filth below your nails,
Tracey