When are the blueberries ripe?

The right time for walks in the forest

If it gets too hot in your own garden in midsummer, you can kill two birds with one stone with a refreshing walk in the forest. From around the beginning of July, the small and particularly aromatic fruits of the Wild blueberries ripe. Their harvest time is usually a little shorter than that of the Cultivated blueberriesbecause they only reach a low shrub height with very few fruits per plant. At higher altitudes, however, wild blueberries can sometimes still be picked in August. With all berries collected in the forest, it is important picked Do not eat fruits unwashed directly in the forest. As tempting as the fruit may be as a refreshment, protect yourself with a generous one To wash or that Boiling down from the dangerous fox tapeworm.

Recognize fully ripe fruits at a glance

On the up to 2.5 meter high shrubs of the North American

Cultivated blueberry the fruits ripen for about two months from the beginning of July. As with raspberries, fully ripe and still very unripe fruits can hang next to each other. You can recognize the ripe blueberries by their dark blue color and their plump shape. At the Pick they can be easily torn from the bushes with gentle pressure with two fingers. In contrast to the Harvest of wild blueberries is a squeezing of individual fruits Cultivated blueberries less bad, since their pulp and juice are not colored blue and therefore the fingers and hands do not turn blue either.

Accelerate and facilitate the harvest

If you have to harvest very large quantities of blueberries, it may be advisable to purchase a so-called blueberry comb. This is a box-shaped harvesting device, which consists of a front part with metal tines arranged in a comb and a collecting container. It allows several berries to be stripped from a branch without tearing off the leaves. However, this requires a little practice, because otherwise the unripe berries, which are often arranged very close to the ripe fruits, will be torn off with them. Larger quantities of blueberries can be processed into various delicacies such as the following:

• Cake with blueberry content
• jam
• fruit juice
• dried blueberries
• frozen berry mixes for sundae and desserts

Tips & Tricks

Shouldn't you eat blueberries straight away or boil down you better leave them hanging on the bush. They are usually more durable when hanging on the plants than in the refrigerator or at room temperature.