Content
Blueberry is a marsh berry that contains a large amount of nutrients. It has a slightly astringent sweetish taste, delicate texture and thin skin. You need to quickly sort out the blueberries so that they do not lose moisture and nutrients before processing or storing them.
At room temperature, the berry can be kept for no more than a day, in the refrigerator for a week. In any case, even with short-term storage, ripe, already tender blueberries will become even softer and may leak. You need to sort it out immediately after collection. Even after a day, it is unlikely that it will be possible to cleanse the fruits without damaging them from twigs and leaves.
Blueberry picking rules
There are currently no garden varieties of blueberries. It has not yet been introduced into cultivation and breeding work with the plant has not been carried out.
Blueberries are harvested at full maturity from July to August. Torn from a bush, it cannot mature during storage. Only bluish-black fruits that are easily removed from the bush are suitable for food and for treatment.
The collection is carried out in dry weather, waiting for the dew to subside. Plucked wet berries are poorly stored, can quickly flow and deform.
Often, for mass harvesting, special ridges, buckets with teeth or other devices are used. This is very harmful to the plant, next year there will be almost no berries in this place. In addition, fruits that do not have time to ripen, which will have to be culled and thrown away, a mass of leaves, twigs and other debris, also fall under the comb.
It is best to pick blueberries by hand. This will not only preserve the plant and the harvest of the next year, but also facilitate the process of cleaning from debris. Sorting through the blueberries will be easier.
Here are some tips to help you when picking blueberries:
- Qualitative blue-black berries with smooth, intact skin. The larger they are, the sweeter. Small, hard fruits can taste sour.
- Delicate berries should be injured as little as possible. When collecting them, it is better to use containers in which they will be transported, rather than pouring them from small containers into large ones. It is generally better to refuse cellophane bags.
- Ripe blueberries are easy to pick.
- If you come across a branch on which there are many berries, both ready for harvesting and not yet ripe, you can gently squeeze it between your palms and pull gently. In this case, ripe fruits will remain in the hands, and green ones - on the plant.
- Sunglasses should not be worn when picking blueberries - they will interfere with their ripeness.
How to sort out blueberries from leaves
Of course, you can collect blueberries one berry at a time, then there will be very little garbage. But how long does it take to pick up a bucket or basket?
If you sort out the fruits by hand, they will not only be cleaned of leaves and branches, but also remain intact. But only during the period of mass ripening of blueberries, this is an impermissible waste of time. Therefore, other methods were invented by berry pickers. They are not ideal, but they allow you to clear a large amount of fruit from debris without spending much effort. Some of the berries will crumple, but they can be eaten fresh or processed.
Method 1
In this way, you can sort out blueberries that are completely intended for immediate processing, freezing or fresh consumption.Such a berry cannot be sold and handed over to procurers - it simply will not reach its destination intact - it will flow and deform.
The blueberries are placed in a wide dish that is much larger than the berry. Pour in cold water. In this case, all the garbage floats up. It can be removed by hand, and if the bathroom is used as a container - with a large slotted spoon, sieve, colander. The berries are carefully transferred to a clean dish. The procedure must be repeated, if the contamination is strong, several times.
You need to process the berries immediately. If they are to be stored for at least 24 hours, this cleaning method should not be used.
Method 2
This is the fastest way. It is often used by pickers if the blueberries need to be taken immediately to the market or to a procurement organization. In windy weather, the berries do not even need to be carried home.
Raise the blueberry container high and slowly pour it into a clean bucket. The wind will help remove most of the debris. If the weather is calm, a fan or even a hairdryer can be used, but this is not possible at the collection point.
Method 3
So you can sort out a small amount or a bucket of berries. If there are really a lot of blueberries, you should use another method.
Take a wide saucepan or a large dish with high sides, pour a handful of berries into it. Shaking the container, roll the blueberries along the bottom, and then pour them into a clean dish. Most of the rubbish will remain on the platter. It is removed with a damp sponge, wiped with a dry towel. They continue to sort out the berries.
Method 4
This is one of the most common ways you can quickly pick up large amounts of blueberries while keeping them dry. You will need:
- table;
- an old bag or other rough fabric that you do not mind getting dirty;
- slats, sticks or old towels to form the sides;
- stool;
- clean dishes for berries.
Of course, professional assemblers have special tools at hand.
But for the first time, you can sort out blueberries like this:
- One side of the table is raised by placing something under the legs so that the slope is 20-30%.
- The surface is covered with burlap.
- Longitudinal sides are formed from sticks or old towels, tapering at the low-lying edge of the table so that the berries do not roll out to the sides.
- A stool and a clean bowl are placed under the improvised bell.
- Several handfuls of blueberries are poured onto the top of the table. Rolling down on a rough cloth, the berries will leave all the debris on it and fall into the dish provided.
- From time to time, the burlap needs to be removed from the table, and the plant residues shaken off.
Thus, you can quickly sort out a large number of marsh berries - blueberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries.
Conclusion
You can quickly sort out blueberries only by damaging some of the berries. The amount of waste depends on how carefully the procedure is carried out. The final cleaning takes place during the washing of the berries; it must be done immediately before processing or eating blueberries.
