Are you aware of the term superfood? Yes, you are right about the food that has popularity due to its nutritional value and taste.
The one here for you is blueberries. Blueberry is a dark blue/purple-colored fruit that originated in North America. Blueberries have a sweet and sour taste.
Types Of Blueberries
Blueberries have five types:
- Low Bush
- Southern Highbush
- Northern Highbush
- Rabbit eye
- Half-high
Northern Highbush is the most popular and cultivated one all around the world.
Although blueberries originated in North America, they are now grown in many regions of the world. Like in Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and many other countries.
Foods You Can Make From Blueberries
In many foods all around the world, blueberries are a necessary ingredient.
Some blueberry recipes you can make are:
Pancakes
Oats
Blueberry tart
Blueberry Cheesecake
Trifle
Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry buns
Cocktail
Blueberry Jam
Smoothie
Blueberry Juice
Frozen Or Fresh Blueberries
The taste of fresh and frozen fruit is quite different, but the scenario that blueberry lovers face is that it comes for a short time in summer. So, it’s impossible to take fresh blueberries throughout the year.
For this reason, the best solution is to freeze the quality blueberries so you can use them later.
How To Use Frozen Blueberries
As fresh blueberries are available for a short time, it’s better to stock blueberries.
The recipes where cooked blueberries are consumed fresh or frozen don’t matter.
On the other hand, the recipes where you need to be careful are those where you use uncooked blueberries. Take care that they don’t defrost for a long time as they will realize their juice. Like in oats and trifles, it is better to use them after taking them out of the freezer soon.
Storage Of Blueberries
If you have plans to store large amounts of blueberries for later use in smoothies, pancakes, jam, tarts, pies, and dishes like these. It is better to freeze them by removing their seeds. When you have seed-free berries, it will make your work easy to use blueberries immediately.
By following the given method, you can freeze/store your blueberries:
- Take good quality blueberries.
- Wash them to remove all the dirt.
- Remove all the seeds from it.
- Take an ice cube tray or zip lock bags.
- Make small batches of blueberries and freeze them for later use.
Seed Removal From Blueberries
Blueberries are considered a superfood in the world due to their properties, but one thing that creates problems is the seeds present in the blueberries. There are lots of ways to remove the seeds from blueberries. Some of them are:
Blueberries Seed Removal By Sieve
One of the ways to remove blueberry seeds is to use a sieve.
- First, wash all the blueberries.
- Bring a little batch of blueberries and push them through a sieve.
In this, you take out all the seeds from the blueberries.
You can use a sieve for seed removal from small amounts of blueberries.
Blueberries Seed Removal By Food Processor
You can use a food processor and a blender for discarding seeds from blueberries.
- Rinse all the blueberries
- Add them to the blender or food processor.
- Sieve the mixture.
- Your seedless blueberries and ready.
The drawback of using a blender or food processor is that they can make a smooth paste and grind some of the seeds inside, which will be unpleasant for some people.
Pit Remover / Pitter
For seed removal, a pitter is also an option, but the drawback is it takes lots of time as you can remove seeds from one blueberry at a time and create a lot of mess.
Food Mill and Seedless Blueberries
For this purpose, multiple types of equipment are present in the market. For example, food mills, sieves, food processors, and many others. Among all of them food mill is the best one for the following reasons:
- Food Mill comes with disks of various sizes. It means that you can get your blueberries in any texture of your choice. Like, if you want to have your blueberries in the smooth paste, you can use a 1mm disk, but if you prefer blueberries in chunks, you can use other disks.
- Food mill comes in both manual and electric forms. You can choose any of your preferences.
- Food Mill is easy to use and doesn’t create any mess.
- It is beneficial for removing seeds from blueberries on a large scale.
How To Make Blueberry Jam
Ingredients:
To make blueberry jam, you need the following ingredients:
- Blueberries
- Sugar
- Pectin
Directions
For good quality healthy blueberry jam following directions should be followed:
Step 1:
Take fresh blueberries. If you don’t have fresh blueberries, you can take frozen ones to make blueberry freezer jam.
The only thing to consider while using frozen blueberries for jam is to use them immediately and preferably use seedless frozen blueberries.
Step 2:
Wash the blueberries to take off any dirt and bacteria.
If using frozen blueberries, rinse them with cold water. They don’t defrost quickly in that way. After defrosting, they will release their juice and make the process messy.
Step 3:
Take a food mill and remove all the seeds from blueberries if you have blueberries with seeds. Gather all the paste in a bowl.
Step 4:
Take a large pot. A large and dense pot is necessary for making jam because if you have a small one, the bubbles of boiling jam will spread everywhere on your stove and kitchen counter. It will also burn your skin.
Step 5:
Add sugar and blueberry paste to the pot and give them a good mix. It is better to mix before cooking as it will avoid the clump-making and burning of sugar.
Step 6:
Give the sugar and blueberry mixture a boil. Stir it for almost 5 – 10 minutes or until the sugar melts.
Step 7:
After 5 – 10 mins, add pectin to the mixture. For gel-like consistency and texture of jam, pectin is necessary.
Step 8:
Cook the jam for 20 – 25 mins or until the jam thickens.
Step 9:
Take another large pot of boiling water and add the jars for storing the jam. It will sterilize the jars.
Step 10:
Add the jam into the jars and add their lids. After hand sealing them, add the jars to the boiling water such that they are 1 inch submerged in water.
Boil them for almost 20 mins. It will vacuum seal the jar.
Now, your jam is ready. You can use it for a long time.
Recipes You Can Make From Frozen Seedless Blueberries
Here are some of how you can use seedless frozen blueberries:
Blueberry Pancakes
- Take pancake mixture, milk, and frozen seedless blueberries.
- Add milk and blueberries into the pancake mixture and make a smooth batter using a spatula.
- Heat a pan by adding a little amount of oil to it and add the pancake batter.
- Flip the side when one side is golden.
Here your blueberry pancakes are ready to eat.
Blueberry Oats
- Take a cup of oats and seedless frozen blueberries.
- Add milk and honey to the oats.
- After giving them a good mix, add your blueberries to it.
Your blueberry oats are ready to be served.
Blueberry Smoothie
- Take a cup of seedless frozen blueberries, yogurt, sugar, and water.
- Blend blueberries, sugar, and yogurt into a fine paste.
Here your smoothie is ready to be served.
Blueberry Muffin Recipe
- Take Flour, sugar, eggs, milk, oil, baking powder, and blueberries.
- Sieve all the dry ingredients.
- Blend all the wet ingredients well and add all the dry ingredients inside them.
- When the smooth batter is ready, add blueberries to it.
- Add the batter to the muffin mold.
- Bake the muffins for 25 mins.
Your blueberry muffins are ready.
Why Use Blueberries
Blueberries are considered one of the healthiest and most used fruits. Some reasons for which it is used all around the world in large quantity are:
- Diet-conscious people use blueberries. It is because blueberries have lots of fiber and nutrients with few calories.
- Blueberries have less sugar than other fruits like mango, banana, and apple. That’s why it is very suitable for people with diabetes. Blueberries have a positive influence on glucose metabolism.
- Blueberries have a high level of antioxidants. It helps in developing the immune system and helps in the prevention of many diseases.
- Blueberries help in lowering cholesterol levels. It regulates the blood flow and maintains the blood vessels, Thus preventing heart diseases and strokes.
- Due to their properties of regulating oxygen and blood flow, blueberries are beneficial for vision as well.
- Blueberries contain a good amount of fiber. They are very beneficial for the digestive system. That’s why they prevent gastrointestinal tract infections.
- Aging is a factor common to all human beings. It happens to everyone. No one can stop it, but we can try to slow it down. Aging occurs due to damage to DNA.
- Blueberries have antioxidants that can lessen the DNA damage rate and thus slow down the aging process.
- Due to their properties, blueberries help stabilize many health conditions like blood pressure, cholesterol level, soreness of muscles, and improved memory.
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References
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-proven-benefits-of-blueberries#TOC_TITLE_HDR_8
https://www.dole.com/en-gb/blog/nutrition/where-do-blueberries-come-from
