Blueberries, also known as blueberries, are a welcome refreshment on hot days in midsummer. They can be harvested from wild blueberries in the forest and from cultivated blueberry bushes in the garden.
The short shelf life of picked blueberries
Once blueberries have been picked from the bush, they can only be stored for a very short time in unprocessed form. In contrast to other types of fruit such as apples and pears, blueberries can only be stored in boiled or frozen form. For fresh consumption, wild blueberries and cultivated blueberries, which are botanically very distantly related to them, can only be kept in the refrigerator for a few days. If there are large quantities of blueberries from the collection tour in the moor forest or from the bushes in your own garden, these can be processed into various durable products in the kitchen:
- jam
- juices
- dried blueberries
The right time to harvest blueberries
Blueberries do not last very long after they have been picked, but the numerous fruits, especially in the case of cultivated blueberries, only gradually ripen. Depending on the weather, the first fully ripe fruits can usually be picked from the bush at the beginning of July. Depending on the variety and the regional climate, the blueberry season usually lasts until late August or September. You can lengthen the harvest season a bit by mixing early and late varieties when planting in the garden.
tips and tricks
Blueberries are not only very healthy in fresh form as delicious fruit or as a fruit topping for cakes. In dried form, they are also a proven home remedy for constipation and other irregularities in the digestive tract.