Blueberries are also colloquially referred to as blueberries in many regions and are a valued fruit for fresh consumption or preserving. The fruits of wild and cultivated blueberries differ relatively greatly, as do the growth forms.
What is the best way to pick blueberries?
When picking blueberries, you should proceed gently to avoid the fruit from splitting. For harvesting in the forest, we recommend shallow bowls or baskets, water for cleaning, and a cushion for kneeling. A blueberry comb can be helpful in harvesting both wild and cultivated varieties.
The difference between wild blueberries and cultivated blueberries
The wild blueberries native to this country can often be found in the undergrowth of sparse moor forests and in the depressions of mountain ranges that are not too high. These bushes rarely grow more than knee-high and only produce a few fruits per plant per year. In contrast, the cultivars available in specialist shops originally come from North America and belong to the genus “Vaccinium”. Their bushes reach maximum heights of around 2.5 to 3 meters and produce a variety of fruits on the branches, which only gradually fully ripen. While the fruits of wild blueberries have a strong blue-colored juice, the inner pulp of the cultivated varieties is almost white in color.
The sweet harvest of midsummer walks
Forest blueberries were often referred to as the “caviar of the forest” in the past, as the fully ripe fruits sometimes shine through the undergrowth almost black-blue and cannot be surpassed in taste by the cultivated varieties. However, the North American varieties are superior to the native plants in that they hold their fruits up to the gardener at eye level. Larger quantities of fruit can also be harvested from each individual bush. When harvesting wild blueberries in July and August, care should also be taken to wash the fruits, as they could be infected with the relatively dangerous fox tapeworm pathogen in the forest. Fruit harvested close to the ground in the garden should also be washed or boiled before consumption if the location is close to the forest.
Tips for making picking as easy as possible
Blueberries tend to burst open when fully ripe. That's why the coloring wild blueberries in particular should only be handled very gently. To harvest in the forest you need:
- shallow bowls or baskets
- Water for cleaning fingers or fruits to be consumed on site
- a cushion for kneeling on the floor
Collecting wild blueberries is a comparatively laborious activity that is often easier to accomplish with a knee pad. Every type of blueberry should be treated as carefully as possible with a view to its shelf life and the already very short shelf life of the fruit. For a faster harvest of wild and cultivated blueberries, a so-called blueberry comb can be used, with which the fruits can be stripped from the branches relatively quickly.
Tips & Tricks
If you also want to use a blueberry comb to pick cultivated blueberries, you should proceed carefully at first. The blueberry cultivars usually bear fully ripe and unripe fruits next to each other on one branch. If unripe fruits are accidentally torn off with the harvesting device, they will not ripen.