It’s blueberry time! It’s not hard to eat those yummy things but what if you have a LOT of them?
Like more than you can just EAT. What can you do with them?
Here’s what to do if you’re blessed with what WAY too many blueberries and you want to take advantage of them!
You Can Freeze Blueberries
Freeze them to eat later or to use in cooking and baking later.
National Center for Home Food Preservation ~ Freezing Blueberries and Huckleberries (Note: you can certainly wash your berries before freezing rather than after. We always do!).
Don’t know how to freeze foods? See resources below.
You Can Can Blueberries
Use them later in cereal or fruit soups (if you don’t mind the color), or use them to make pies or fruit sauces.
National Center for Home Food Preservation ~ Canning whole berries
Don’t know how to can? See resources below.
You Can Dry Them
They’re good, but they’ll leave you looking a little blue after you eat them!
If someone suggests that you cut them in half to dry them, don’t. That’s way too time-consuming! Use the blanching method instead.
You can also use blueberries in fruit leathers. There’s a recipe for blueberry roll-ups in the resources section below, but you can also do blueberry-banana.
National Center for Home Food Preservation ~ Drying (see “Fruits,” “Fruit Leathers,” and “Fruits and Vegetables.”
Don’t know how to dry foods? See resources below.
Just Eat Them
Or as many of them as you can.
Here are a few ideas:
- Whole blueberries in your cold or hot cereal
- Smoothies
- Blueberry sauce for your pancakes or waffles
- Fruit salad
- Fruit soup
- Blueberry bread
- Blueberry muffins
- Blueberry pie
- Blueberry cobbler
- Blueberry pancakes
- Blueberry cake
- Blueberry turnovers
- Blueberry ice cream
- Blueberry cheesecake
- Blueberry cookies
- Blueberry jam
There are many ways to eat blueberries!
Need a recipe? See resources below.
Eat Them Later
Blueberries are not long keeping but they’ll keep longer in the refrigerator than out. You can also cook them (blueberry sauce and blueberry pie, for example) and eat them later in the week, or make something for the freezer to eat later in the month or for the next few months (like blueberry muffins).
Share Them With Others
Some people might appreciate pre-looked, and even pre-washed, blueberries, or a loaf of blueberry bread (or whatever). Somewhat less intimidating than a bucket of blueberries complete with leaves and spiders.
Resources:
So Easy To Preserve New & Revised Edition Plastic Comb – September 2, 2006by
Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving ~ 37Th Edition by Ball
Excalibur dehydrators (they’re supposed to be very good).
National Center for Home Food Preservation | UGA Publications (PDF instructions)
National Center for Home Food Preservation | How to Can
National Center for Home Food Preservation | How to Dry Foods
Blueberry recipes on Pinterest
Blueberry recipes at Allrecipes.com
Homemade Naturally Sweetened Blueberry Fruit Roll-Ups
If you don’t have an abundance of blueberries but you’d like to, try Ripe Near Me or Local Harvest.
Take advantage of those blueberries!
