Big Blue Blueberries

Dear, blueberries used to always be like that. It’s only in the last 25 years that they’ve gotten small and tart.

KittyDyke, some people think blueberries are getting too big.

It's natural?

40 pounds??

Bigger is not better.

The most nutrient dense blueberries are the small "low bush" variety..

Barry’s big blue berries? Let me help.

[quote]40 pounds?!?

Yep! My mother has unsweetened blueberries and salt free oatmeal (wallpaper paste IMO) for breakfast every. Single. Morning.

You're angry because your mother gave you a pound of blueberries? And you wanted more than that?

Is there some reason you can't go to the grocery store and buy more of those big fat juicy blueberries yourself?

r9 Supermarkets don't sell them, local farms far removed from bus routes do.

Freezing blueberries ruins them. Makes them mushy with tough skin.

Some fresh large blueberries are tasteless. Some tiny ones are sweet. I eat tons of blueberries with yogurt and it’s just a crap shoot as to how good they’ll be. They’re highly variable.

Supermarkets in California sell the big juicy blueberries. Almost all year round.

As someone who for years has been having organic blueberries most mornings as part of my breakfast, I find that the smaller sized ones are typically sweeter than the larger ones.

Also, I keep a big bag of frozen wild blueberries for when they are hard to find during off peak seasons like winter and/or they are too pricey. They are rich in polyphenols and natural antioxidants.

Frozen yuck

Ok do you guys wash your blueberries before eating or storing in fridge? What about pesticides?

Rinse in colander, as with pasta.

Unfortunately blueberries are considered among the dirty dozen when it comes to pesticides. I only buy organic or wild. I rinse them three times and then let them soak in cold water in a cup for at least 5 minutes, then rinse once more. For frozen I do the same thing, making sure they are clean and the water will quickly thaw them.

OP, what region do you live in? Am looking to do the same before the season is over. Maybe 20 lbs.

r15, I can't have pesticides due to liver issues.

If I can't find organic, or if the price is astronomical, I soak all berries with one part vinegar to four parts water for 30 minutes, then rinse the hell out of them before eating or freezing. I use blueberries with cereal or yogurt, pies and smoothies with Stevia and lemon juice and sometimes a bit of zest. Where I live (CA) they're imported from Peru in Winter. They're not bad, but not as good as local, and you don't know how/what they've been treated with, given Dump's cuts to the FDA, Ag Inspections, etc..

I soak blueberries in soapy water and then in plain water. After that I rinse them several times.

I live among blueberry farms. The pesticides are more on the ground than on the blueberries. We had so much rain here, I'd eat the blueberries right off the bush with no fear of pesticides on them.

Dogs love the jumbo blueberries!

Frankenberries

Where can one get blueberries freshly picked? I imagine it’s largely in the northeast and Michigan but any other states?

Maine

I like blueberry syrup. Good for pancakes or cocktails, like an old fashioned sweetened with maple syrup.

r18 The Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley area of BC, ten minutes north of the WA border by vehicle. Cascadia if you will

The Whatcom County Fair in Lynden WA is/was nice.

South Jersey is loaded with blueberries. The season has been over about 3 weeks now.

Joisey?

I love the big frozen ones. On hot days in cereal, dessert, with yogurt, or by themselves, they’re like a refreshing bunch of little round popsicles.

Make blueberry muffins. Yum.

Did someone say muffins?

I like to hand out lingonberry treats at Småland.

“Mommy, that man gave me a muffin!”

r23, blueberries are widely grown in the Northwest, (Washington, Oregon, and northern California) as well as in the Canadian province of British Columbia. There's a southern kind of blueberry as well, called rabbiteye blueberry, which some have described as being somewhat blander and more mealy than northern blueberries. I imagine that it is available in supermarkets throughout the southeast.

There are usually "u-pick" small farms wherever blueberries are grown. It's time-consuming, but in about an hour, you could pick a couple of quarts at least. Where I live, in the Pacific Northwest, the season is quite long, because growers usually grow different varieties which have different ripening periods. I'd say usually mid-July through at least early September.