Saturday, August 7, 2010

Blueberries

they're in season right now in the Pacific Northwest.
And they are oh-so-yummy & our current go-to snack.

Before my parents headed out to Arizona my mom & dad went to go pick blueberries... which is so out of character for my dad seeing how he doesn't like blueberries, and he's not the picking berries type.
they picked a LOT of berries.
I can't remember how many exactly, but I know it was over 20 lbs because they got the card from Boxx's that gives you a discount on any future purchase.

Now we like our blueberries around here year round so we freeze them.
(I'll share our process in just a minute)
Frozen blueberries are a great treat. Pour some into a cup, bowl, or tupperware and eat it like popcorn. Yum. and they're full of antioxidants too!!

This past year we ran out of blueberries.
So we went and bought a bag from Costco.
They're good berries... and really probably cost about the same as picking them....
...BUT...
They're all the same color.
They're coated with something... not sure what...
the ingredients on the bag don't have any funky ingredients so I'm not worried about that...

the thing that bothers me is that they are such a hot mess.
i avoided giving them to maria because she would be covered in this purple/blue mess by the time she was halfway done, which never happened with the home-frozen blueberries. with home-frozen ones at most her fingers would get a little colored.

So moral of the story.... pick your own berries & save yourselves a couple loads of laundry.

How to home-freeze blueberries.

Pick a whole load of berries.
Fill up the kitchen sink with water.
Dump a bunch of berries in the water.
Swish them around really well to clean them off.
Scoop them out with a strainer.
Spread them out over a dish towel.
Gently roll them around to dry them off.
Once dried, pour into freezer bags and pop into the freezer.

If they are clean and dry when you put them into the freezer you can just pour into your cup and partake of the blueberry goodness.

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