Blueberries

We've gone blueberry picking twice this year already and I'm sure we'll go again before the season is over. I love berry season here. We missed the strawberries thanks to moving but we did get to pick cherries, which I had not done before. The sweet cherries are only around for two days since they get picked so quickly, but we made it for the blueberries.

I have a soft spot for blueberry picking. It was one of my first adventures here in Princeton and my first introduction to Terhune Orchard's. Since then, we go all the time, and even when we don't quite make it over there, we get their food from the farmer's market.

We are doing  trying to do"Plastic free July" so I really wanted to get more blueberries. We can get berries plastic free at the farmer's market, but I really think it's good for Madeleine and Baby X to see where food comes from and to be outside. 

I make her wear black. She makes sure she still gets a tutu.

Madeleine was having a bit of a hard time not eating all of the berries, so we had to leave after a bit. They gave me a free apple cider donut for bring a bag. I love those things! Anyway, part of the reason we went today was to get some more blueberries to freeze. I don't really cook with berries when they are not in season, but I do make blueberry muffins time to time. I figured that two jars of berries would be enough for four batches, which I think is enough for winter.

Here is how I do it if anyone is curious.

After washing them, I stick them on a cookie sheet and pick out all the leaves, stems, and bad berries.

Then I spread them out as much as possible and put the cookie sheet in the freezer over night. In the morning they are rock hard and I can stick them in a jar. Since I frozen them on a cookie sheet, I can pull out one berry at a time, or just pour out as many as I need.

Jar from last week's berries

I put some extras in the fridge for us to eat and make blueberry banana muffins with later.