In the months of midsummer from the beginning of July to the beginning of September, black-blue blueberries lure in the forest as a fruity refreshment from nature. However, these should not be eaten unwashed due to the risk of infection with the fox tapeworm.

The fox tapeworm and other risks

Basically, only forest blueberries are affected by the danger of the fox tapeworm, since their fruits are usually harvested in the wild and at a height of less than 40 centimeters. Even if the risk of infection with the fox tapeworm pathogen from eating wild fruits is negligible, the disease, which can sometimes lead to death, justifies conscientious handling of the wild blueberries. Washing the fruit not only rinses off the invisible small eggs of the fox tapeworm, but also any sprays and fertilizers from bought or home-picked cultivated blueberries.

Washing as an alternative to heating

The fox tapeworm pathogen could also be killed by heating the blueberries to a temperature of over 60 degrees Celsius. In that regard, washing off with water before canning blueberries might not actually be necessary. However, washing the fresh berries does not hurt either if the following products are made from the collected and heated blueberries:

  • jam
  • jelly
  • juice

Wash and dry blueberries gently

For a particularly gentle wash, the relatively delicate blueberries are placed in a sieve and then immersed in a second bowl full of water. Sometimes getting the berries wet can be undesirable when used for freezing or drying. In this case, after the water bath, the blueberries are spread on a layer of kitchen paper and gently dabbed off from above with a second layer of kitchen paper. You can also prevent the frozen fruit from combining into an inseparable lump.

tips and tricks

If you don't want to miss out on enjoying fresh blueberries when collecting them in the forest, you can take a bottle of water with you into the forest and use it to wash off the fruit on the spot.

WK

Category:

Vegetable garden