Blueberries

This amazing fruit is very near and dear to me as I write this blog I have stared at buckets full of blueberries over the last three days.   😊 Our children and I picked a decent amount of berries and had a great time with a friend of ours a few weeks ago when blueberries were first coming in.  Now due to our need to put away our food for the year, we did not have enough berries and went back for more once the bushes fully ripened. We went as a family and also took another family of friends this time. As a group, we were able to pick 39 pounds! That is a lot of berries! We are very thankful for all the fruit God has provided for us thru various local u-pick farms. It has been a blessing to get lots of fruit put away for the upcoming winter. We have blueberry bushes planted on our homestead but our plants are still young. Going to the u-pick farms allow me to dream about how our plants will produce in the future. I also look forward to putting away fruit in batches rather than all at once in one fell swoop! I am going to share a few of the things we made this year along with recipes for you to try if you would like. Have fun and happy canning!

I use the Ball Blue Book  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OEJZSNW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00OEJZSNW&linkCode=as2&tag=crazytrainacr-20&linkId=3e2db46c760ccf533aa0cfd05eda0412 for reference and tweaked recipes around a bit here and there. I also use the Sure Jell recipe for jams and jellies. Before canning of any sort, make sure you follow the sanitation steps and processing times. It is very important to sanitize jars (I wash mine and then boil them), keep surfaces clean, and follow processing times to avoid botulism.  I have repeated this a couple times in this blog because of its importance. Canning can be simple and fun, or scary and dangerous. As with anything in life, follow the directions and things should  run smooth and fun.

I started with jelly. I made cooked blueberry jelly from the Sure Jell recipe that is inside the box. If you are new to canning, it is super easy and relatively forgiving. Make sure you sanitize the jars, cook as instructed, boil the lids before using them, wipe the rims clean (to allow a clean surface for the lid to adhere to the jar), and process according to the times in your region.

6 cups whole fruit = 4 cups pureed fruit

1 box SURE JELL https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012DGSUQE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B012DGSUQE&linkCode=as2&tag=crazytrainacr-20&linkId=d47901f8d4fc6b6a1adffec9e4b8b302

1/2 tsp butter

4 cups sugar

Mix pureed fruit, pectin, and butter until it boils then add sugar. Bring back to a boil and boil one minute. Pour into prepared jars (about 7 half pints, already sanitized) wipe off rims of jars, place lids (boiled for 5 minutes) and rings on jars. Put into hot water bath and boil for 10 minutes (or what your altitude calls for) once finished, remove from hot water and set on a towel to cool for 24 hours.

I then thought I would whip up a quick batch of blueberry syrup...HAHAHAHAHA! Wow, was I wrong. First mistake… quick batch… second mistake… double batch. (Because John said how much he LOOOVVEEES blueberry syrup.  I thought, hey, I can be a good wife and make his belly happy.) I read in the recipe that I need to crush the berries and boil them in water, then strain berries and juice.  Now I am used to straining milk so I thought, no big deal, it will run right out. Not sure what I was thinking as it is not a liquid to begin with. It is a thick berry with sugars emitting from it. Long story short, my kitchen looked like a blueberry bomb went off! I burned my hands squeezing out the juice and I have come to the conclusion my family better enjoy this batch because it is not on my top ten list to make again, lol. Not to mention, my quick batch of syrup took over 3 hours! LOL

Blueberry Syrup from the Ball Blue Book

2 quarts blueberries

6 cups water divided

3 cups sugar

2 TBSP lemon juice

Wash and drain blueberries, crush. Cook blueberries, 2 cups water, and lemon juice in pan for 5 minutes. Strain. Combine sugar and 4 cups water till a boil. Boil to 230 degrees F. Add blueberry juice to syrup and boil 5 minutes. Ladle hot syrup into hot jars. Put hot lids and rings on. Process in hot water canner for 10 minutes on pints.

After that I made 6 pies, 4 to put in the freezer and two to eat that night. Remember to always make a  fresh pie when you pick fruit 😊 at least that is what my family thinks! Actually I guess we made 10 pies because we had four little people in the house that day and all four needed to make their own pie too. 😉 Cuties!

I use the Betty Crocker Pie crust recipe.

1 cup flour

Salt

1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP shortening

Cold water - 2-3 TBSP

Cut in shortening to the flour and salt. Add cold water just till dough sticks together and can form a ball. Roll out with a rolling pin and transfer to pie plate.

Blueberry Pie filling-

I take 3-4 cups of blueberries, add 1-2 cups of sugar, based on tartness, a TBSP of flour to help thicken it and mix together and put in pie crust.

Crumble top is 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup butter. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter and sprinkle over the top of the pie.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes

The next day I made a blueberry conserve (abbreviated from the Ball Blue Book based on what I had on hand).  John likes more fruit vs jelly in his yogurt, so I am attempting new recipes.

1 quart of blueberries

4 cups sugar

2 cups water

Lemon juice

3 tbsp fruit pectin

Mix everything except blueberries to a boil, add blueberries and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Ladle into hot jars with hot lids and rings. Process half pint jars 15 minutes.

Then Avi and I froze 20 - 2 cup bags of whole berries with our amazing Food Saver. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DI342B4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DI342B4&linkCode=as2&tag=crazytrainacr-20&linkId=4c8860344d5d63734a2cb273db584d09

And last but not least we were able to can 4 1/2 quarts of whole berries in syrup.

I fill jars with blueberries and then add a medium syrup (made by boiling 3 cups sugar with 5 cups water) pour over blueberries in jar and add hot lids and rings. Process in hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Whew I am tired thinking over what we did these last few days. It was a lot of fun working with some friends of ours and having extra hands in the kitchen was great help with keeping up on all the dishes while I worked.