Freeze, dry or eat, stock up for all reason, all season

Recently the author of this blog came across a spectacular deal on fresh blueberries. “Spectacular” in this case means, $3 a pound in a local grocery store, pre-packed in 2lb clamshells. Still smarting from winter prices, 2 of the clamshells seemed a way to add to the growing inventory of frozen and soon, dehydrated blueberries. Fortunately blueberries are easy to put back, especially if you have plenty of freezer space. In the authors case, the most of the energy in this project was spent in arranging the freezer to maximize shelf space necessary for the first step in freezing the blueberries.

Sort, freeze, bag and return to freezer

Remember, when freezing blueberries, all you do is sort for stems, debris and damaged fruit. You do not wash the blueberries! Washing blueberries before you freeze them will cause them to be soggy when they thaw. Instead, rinse the frozen blueberries before you use them. Also, you don’t even need to thaw them before baking, cooking or adding to a salad. Just toss them in!

Of course leave a bunch for fresh eating, smoothies, salads, garnishes, deserts, baking, breakfast and whatever your imagination can conjure up because everything is better with North Carolina Blueberries!

Today some of the extra blueberries made were added to the author’s whole wheat toaster waffles and peanut butter, drizzled with organic maple syrup! Watch for an upcoming contest where we want you to send us your favorite crazy blueberry combinations!
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