Blueberries from the forest or from the cultivated blueberries in your own garden taste best fresh. You can preserve larger quantities of the blueberries, which otherwise only have a short shelf life, and thus preserve them for longer.
How can you preserve blueberries by boiling?
Blueberries can be preserved for longer by boiling them down. To do this, pour the fresh, clean berries into glasses, pour hot sugar water over them and heat in the oven at 80 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Then close the jars and store in a cool, dark place.
Always process as fresh as possible
You are doing yourself a disservice if you initially leave blueberries in the fridge or at room temperature for days and then only process them as an emergency solution when mold begins to appear. To ensure a maximum taste experience even with boiled blueberries, they should always be processed as soon as possible after picking. If the delicious berries cannot all be used fresh from the bush for consumption or processing in cake recipes, they can be processed into the following products:
- to blueberry schnapps
- to juice
- with jam or puree
- to berry compote
Prepare the berries properly
When collecting the berries, you should pay attention to their taste quality and consistency. Ideally, pick the fully ripe fruits early in the morning when they are still juicy from the dew and the coolness of the night. Then sort the berries before washing and sort out any crushed or defective fruits and remaining stems before cooking or freezing them. When washing directly before preserving, the fruits should be dried as much as possible so that the washing water remaining on them does not falsify the required recipe quantities.
Carefully boil and preserve blueberries
When preserving, there are different procedures and recipes depending on your individual taste. The blueberries can be boiled with the sugar water for at least 4 minutes and then poured into the jars. The fruits stay in better shape if they are poured with hot sugar water and then heated in the oven to around 80 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes. After closing the jars, they should first be turned over on the lid side so that there is no air layer in the jar and thus the risk of mold forming. Preserved blueberries usually last up to a year in a cool, dark cellar.
Tips & Tricks
Surplus blueberries can also be quickly mixed with commercially available grain during the harvest season if there is not enough time. After about four to six weeks, the alcohol absorbs the color and flavors from the blueberries and is suitable as a basis for refreshing summer drinks.
