In Praise of Blueberries

It's mid-summer and the blueberries are ripening all over Massachusetts. Now is the time, bucket in hand, to get out there and pick as many of these antioxidant powerhouses as you can, and freeze them for the winter months. Berries are one of those amazing foods that retain their flavor and nutrition when frozen fresh. And they are delicious when used in pies, muffins, breads, or even in your oatmeal up to a year later.

I remember as a kid there were wild blueberries all over the place. Low bushes, so you would have to kneel or sit to pick: these were the tiny blueberries, the amazingly full-flavored little bombs that we just couldn't' get enough of. My family used to grab pails in July and August and head out to the fields where the blueberries were. It was a real family outing, each of us trying to find the "best" bushes, the places where you could plunk yourself down and get a load of the bounty all within arms reach. We each had our "spots" and would run to claim those as soon as we arrived in the field. 

Then we'd pick until the pails were overflowing, Dad having to carry everyone's pails in two strong arms, and home we'd go. Some of the berries got eaten fresh, or baked into delicious muffins right away; others were washed, dried, and stored in the freezer until those snowy months when blueberry fields seemed like a distant memory from another lifetime.

There don't seem to be those fields of wild blueberries anymore, but there are plenty of farms in the area that offer pick-your-own for a fixed price per pound. While these berries are bigger and (to me anyway) not quite as robust in flavor as the little wild ones of my youth, they are sweet, tart, and packed with vitamins and nutrients. At the farms you can take your bag-lined pail  and navigate the taller blueberry bushes (much easier to pick from) and work until your pail is filled.

So why would you opt to go out in the heat, get sweaty and pick tons of blueberries as opposed to buying a pint a the local grocery store? First, local, fresh produce can't be beat, even if the fruit is only making it's way from New Jersey (which is where many of our blueberries come from this time of year); second, being involved in the process of gathering your own food makes you part of the process as opposed to a disconnected consumer; and finally, filling that pail and then bringing the berries home to freeze is a time-honored rite that many of us remember doing with our parents and grandparents.

There is nothing more satisfying to me than baking blueberry muffins or making pancakes in January with fruit that I picked and froze in August. So here are a few pointers for freezing that I hope will inspire you to get out there and pick blueberries in the next few weeks:

When you get home, dump the blueberries in a large pot or bowl of cold water with a splash of white vinegar (I use vinegar to wash all my produce as it cleans well with no residue or funny taste). Pick over the berries and get out all the stems and debris that comes along with picking. 

Place some large towels on the counter and spread the blueberries on the towels to dry - make sure they're in a single layer - they should dry in about an hour, so once you complete this step you can go off and do something fun!. 

Once the berries are dry, line a large cookie sheet with a dish towel, spread a single layer of blueberries on the towel (they can be touching), and place the tray in the freezer. Once the berries are completely frozen - this should take an hour or so - you can dump them into a labeled freezer storage bag, and stack them flat in your freezer. If you have a partial bag, that's ok, you can continue to add berries to that bag until it's full.

Trust me, the time you spend now washing, drying, and freezing berries will all be worth it when the winter snows are howling outside and you're inside enjoying fresh blueberries in your muffins!