The particularly aromatic fruits on wild blueberry bushes are often referred to as the caviar of the forest. Whether you're collecting them in the forest or picking them in the garden, blueberries taste delicious fresh or preserved.
When and how is it best to harvest blueberries?
Blueberries are best harvested from the beginning of July until September by only stripping fully ripe, blue berries from the branches. Use bowls and possibly a blueberry comb for quick picking and be sure to handle the delicate fruit carefully.
The best harvest time for blueberries
If the weather conditions are favorable, the season for collecting blueberries begins around the beginning of July. Since the fruits on the bushes do not all ripen at the same time, but only gradually ripen, the delicious fruits can sometimes be harvested well into September. When picking the fruit, you should make sure to only remove really blue and fully ripe fruits from the branches, as blueberries do not ripen after harvest.
Aids for the harvest
Whether in the forest or with the blueberries in the garden, you should have the following things ready for the harvest if possible:
- one or more bowls
- a cloth for cleaning blueberry juice from your fingers
- a blueberry comb for faster harvesting
A blueberry comb consists of many wire teeth arranged in parallel and a collecting container. You can use it to brush through the branches of the blueberries so that ripe berries are scraped off into the collecting container. However, this method also catches unripe fruits, so a visual inspection must be carried out just like when picking the berries by hand.
Transport and process correctly
Blueberries don't last very long after harvest, this is especially true for bruised fruits. They therefore always wanted to use bowls for the blueberry harvest that they did not fill completely to the brim. The fewer blueberries there are on top of each other in the bowl, the less damage there is to the delicate fruits. Before each consumption, blueberries from the forest should be washed thoroughly or cooked during further processing to avoid the risk of fox tapeworm. Blueberries can be used in the kitchen to make jam, compotes and cakes.
Tips & Tricks
So that enough fruit can be harvested from cultivated blueberries for up to 30 years, you should cut the blueberry bushes regularly. Remove the older branches that can be recognized by the bark, because blueberries only produce many flowers on young branches.
