Creative Blueberry Garden Recipes

Posted by Cathy England
July 28th, 2009
Filed in Fruits, Veggies and Herbs
Tags: blueberries, canning, recipes

One very important thing to learn as a gardener is to eat seasonally. This means eating greens and wintered over root vegetables in the early and late spring, peas and beans in the early summer, and finding 317 ways to eat blueberries, tomatoes, and peppers in the mid to late summer. In order to accomplish this goal, it requires that the gardener has a number of creative garden recipes at their disposal.

Five Ways With Blueberries

If you are lucky enough to have a ready supply of blueberries at your disposal, kudos to you.  If you do not however, there are many ways to get blueberries very inexpensively while they are in season.  Drop hints to friends and neighbors who do not pick or use theirs, or find a pick your own farm where blueberries can be had for a dollar or two a pound.  Get as many as you can, as cheaply as you can, and worry about what to do with them later.

Aside from fresh eating, there are a number of ways that blueberries can be used immediately.  This includes placing them in pancakes, pies, cobblers, waffles, or on top of your yogurt.  Inevitably though, you begin to feel that if you eat just one more blueberry, you may be sick.  Do not throw them away, there are five easy and creative ways that you can keep blueberries for use throughout the year.

• Blueberry Butter -This is not blueberry flavored butter.  If you are familiar with apple butter, than you have a better understanding of what blueberry butter is.  The method takes longer than an easy jam recipe, but is well worth it in the end.  (See recipe  below)
• Freeze -Whenever you have more blueberries than you know that you can process before the berries go bad, pick freezing every time.  Berries can be tossed into a freezer bag, or can be flash frozen on a cookie sheet before placing into freezer bag.  The second method is generally better as it makes a few handfuls of blueberries easier to access as they will not clump together.  This means blueberry pancakes, pies etc throughout the year
• Blueberry Sauce -This is a wonderful and easy way to use blueberries.  You can make enough to can, or can make a single batch at a time.  The recipe for this can be found in the “Ball Big Blue Book of Canning”.  It goes great on ice cream, mixed into yogurt, as a topping on hot breakfast cereal, or with a spoon, right out of the jar.
• Preserve Blueberries by Canning – Blueberries can be put into a light syrup of sugar and water, and hot or cold packed right into the jar.  Process the jars for 10 minutes in a hot water canner, and have blueberries to use later on in the year.
• Feed the Birds – When you find a few of your berries have gotten overripe, and cannot be used, throw them into a separate freezer container to take care of your feathered friends during the cold and lean winter months.  Food is much more scarce during this time, and a few gone by berries are a welcome treat for birds in the winter.

Blueberries are delicious and healthy and abundant at this time of year.  Do not miss the opportunity to grab as many of them as you can.  If you have 18 gallons of blueberries in your freezer throughout the year, they will not go to waste.  Just remember that they are there, and use them.  Any of the frozen berries can be used throughout the year to make any of the recipes mentioned above.

Blueberry Butter

• 3 cups pureed blueberries
• 3 cups sugar
• zest of one half of lemon
• Juice of one lemon, or about 1/3 cup bottled lemon juice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large stainless steel pan.  Bring to a rapid boil, stirring frequently.  Lower heat to a medium simmer, and allow mixture to boil down until it sets rounded on a spoon.  Stir occasionally.  This process can take a couple of hours.  If done in a slow cooker, less attention is needed, though it takes a bit longer.

Place butter into prepared jars, and use the boiling water canning method for 10 minutes.  Remove jars, the pop indicates that there is a proper seal.  Label, and store in a cool dark place.