Sunday, July 11, 2010

Berry Picking: Blueberries

On Thursday I got the idea that I wanted to drive 2 hours to a pick-your-own fruit farm.

First, a little back story.
I've been stocking up my freezer with fresh fruit for the last two weeks. The grocery store has had some awesome sales on fresh fruit lately and I took full advantage: blackberries and raspberries for $1 for the 6oz containers they come in, which are normally $2+.

Side note - I wash and hull (if necessary) the berries and dry them and then lay them on a cookie sheet covered in saran wrap and then wrap the whole thing up in more plastic wrap (to avoid the funky garlic smell that lives in my freezer). Then the next day I pull them all off the cookie sheet and pack them into freezer storage bags to be used at a later date.

I have been using Pick Your Own to look for farms in my area and to pay attention to the ready-to-pick fruits.

This week is blueberries!

So I called up one of my great friends and she and her little boy and I drove to Grimm's Gardens yesterday and I ended up with over 6 lbs of blueberries! At only $2.35/lb! What a BARGAIN.

What does 6 lbs of blueberries look like? This, my friends.
That's a nice big jelly roll sheet pan. I ended up dividing it all between two cookie sheets and using paper towels to absorb excess water and so I could use multiple layers.

The taste? SO fresh. So sweet. So worth the sun poisoning I think I got.

I'm going back next weekend for more blueberries and maybe some red raspberries and apricots. This time, I'll be sure to drink water along the way and bring more sunscreen (mine all sweat off).

If you have the opportunity to do something like this, I highly recommend taking advantage!

5 comments:

Natalie said...

We have a lot of fruit picking farms around here, but they're mostly for cherries, peaches, plums and other stone fruits. (I don't like stone fruits. Ugh.) I wish we had a berry-picking somewhere close! That is an AMAZING price for bluberries. Bravo!

Cait said...

I LOVE blueberries! Those look delicious! Make some yummy cobbler!

PS-your photos are beautiful!

Chelsea said...

Cait- I can't take credit for the pretty photo! It's from another site (a .org) that provides details on blueberry picking. I WISH I had a camera that could take a great picture like that. Soon enough, I hope!

ATnell said...

They look delightful!

Becka Beacham said...

That is just fabulous! I don't particularly care for blueberries but the last picture made my mouth water!