blueberries

What method do you use to preserve blueberries? After washing & cleaning the berries I spread them on a large clean cloth in front of a fan & let them dry before freezing. They look good & the berries don't stick together when frozen but they are tough when thawed. I don't like them at all. What am I doing wrong? Is there a way to preserve them that keeps the berry more like fresh? Thanks.

We do not wash our berries. They are high enough off the ground to avoid the dirt and spraying is stopped well before picking, so rain has done the work.

The berries go straight from the bushes into ziplock bags, then into the freezer. They truly end up like frozen blueberry marbles. We haven't noticed that they are tough, but after freezing they are used primarily in baking and pancakes.

Dehydrating seems like too much work for me.

I would love to hear about this from anyone who likes what they do. I have tried drying them and, while they are useful in some ways, they took forever to dry. Too wastefull of energy for me to do many.
I think I'm going to try fruit leather with them and see if that gives me a snackable product.

I agree, I just pour em from the picking bucket into a ziplock bag and freeze, In the winter, (when I'm not putting up the rest of the summer harvest), I make jam... mmm jam!!

Thanks for replies. I will try not washing them this year. Since our berries are not sprayed that won't be a problem. I should be able to use what I have in the freezer for jelly.

Washing prior to freezing makes the berries get tougher when they are frozen. Do not wash before freezing

I can them, some in plain water, some in light syrup, some as syrup (great on pancakes and ice cream), lots as jam....Then I make pie filling and freeze it. (Alton Brown on food network)

I have 4 bushes and a good friend that has 40 acres of them LOL I pick LOTS of blueberries.

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I dont wash, but I dont spray either

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