Well Preserved
The Well Preserved news col
umn is prepared by Lancaster
County Cooperative Extension.
It includes food preservation
information and questions.
Blueberries
Blueberries are beginning to
appear in the market and food
preservers will soon be thinking
of ways to capture the colorful
sweetness of this little berry for
later use. This is one of the easier
fruits to freeze, but may also be
canned, made into jam, jelly, pre
serves, or syrups. Even pies,
cakes and muffins made with
blueberries can be frozen.
Wild blueberries have been a
cherished part of our heritage
since the nation’s earliest years.
As one of a few native fruits,
early settlers cherished the tiny
berries as a basic ingredient in
food and medicines. They incor
porated blueberries into their
diets by eating them fresh, add
ing them to stews and soups, and
many other foods.
It wasn’t until the 1930’s that
the cultivated blueberry business
began to come alive. Today,
North American blueberries ac
count for 95 percent of the
world’s harvest.
Pennsylvania blueberries are
most abundant during the month
of July although some varieties
mature later. Popular varieties
include Earliblue, Bluetta, Blue
ray, Bluecrop, Berkeley, and La
teblue. All these varieties are ex
cellent for eating fresh or for
freezing and cooking.
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89 Old Leacock Rd., Ronks, PA * 717-768.7174
www.leacockcoleman.com
Store Hours
Mon., I\ie., Wed. & Thur. - 7am - spm
Fri. - Tam - Bpm Sat. Tam -12 pm noon
Coleman Camping Products Coleman Gas Grills
Regency Gas and Wood Stoves Harman Wood, Coal & Pellet Stoves
& Fireplaces
Oliver Tractors fi More ° Competitions ° Awards
Great Food & Drink ° Fresh Homemade Ice Cream
Tractor/Farm Flea Market ° Schaeffer Farm Tours
July 12: Bam to 777
Bam Acquaintance Time
Noon Parade of Tractors
Ipm Slow Races, Teeter-Totter,
Egg Carrying & More
3pm Weigh-In for Ttactor Pull
4pm TVactor Pull Competition
Admission; s2(Under-12:FREE!)
It's all at the 90-acre Alexander Schaejfer Farm on Rt-501 Just south of Schaefferstown,
For Tractor Show details, please call (717) 866-2618, (717) 866-2055 or (717) 949-2444.
Historic Schaefferstown, Inc
Proceeds benefit HSI a nonprofit educational organization For membership details contributions & volunteer opportunities call (717) 949-2244
When shopping, choose berries
that appear plump and firm with
a light silvery bloom. Select fully
ripe fruit since unripe berries do
not become sweeter after they are
picked. Ripe blueberries have a
light blue to blue-black color. Red
or green berries have a sour
flavor. Keep in mind that the big
ger the berry, the sweeter it will
be. Of course, for some palates,
that doesn’t mean the flavor is
necessarily better. Part of the ap
peal of any berry is its tartness.
Blueberries are delicate. When
you get them home, examine ber
ries carefully and remove
squashed, diseased or moldy ber
ries. Refrain from washing blue
berries until you are ready to use
them; otherwise they will spoil
quickly if they are refrigerated.
Freezing washed berries results in
a tougher skinned product. The
National Center of Home Food
Preservation recommends that
blueberries be frozen without
washing and then be washed be
fore being used. This may result
in them becoming mushy.
Another option is to wash
Jotul Gas and Wood Stows
Aladdin Lamps and Accessories
July 13: Bam to 3pm
Bam Acquaintance Time
9am More Tractor Races
Noon Parade and Awards
Ipm Pedal Tractor Pull for Kids
Ipm On Stage; Holt TWins & Family
w/ Antique Musical Instruments
Schaeffer Farmhouse Tours
Storytelling: Lewis Everline
Ipm
2pm
them before freezing and laying
them out on a towel to dry thor
oughly before freezing. If you
want to freeze them for later use
spread dry (washed or
unwashed) berries on a flat tray
and place in the freezer. Once
hard, transfer to any closed con
tainer. Do not thaw when you are
ready to use them. Blueberries
may also be frozen crushed or
pureed. Crush or press washed
berries through a fine sieve, or
puree in a blender or food proces
sor. Mix 1 to IVs cups of sugar
with each quart (2 pounds) of
crushed berries or puree. Stir
until sugar is dissolved. Pack into
containers, leaving head space.
Blueberries may be canned
using a light or medium sugar
syrup or may be covered with
water, apple or white grape juice.
To make a light syrup for a
canner load of quarts, mix 2'A
cups sugar in 9 cups water and
heat to dissolve or mix and dis
solve 3% cups sugar in S'A cups
water to make a medium syrup.
To hot pack, place drained
berries in boiling syrup, juice, or
water and boil 30 seconds. Fill
clean jars with hot berries and
cooking liquid, leaving Vi inch
headspace.
To raw pack, place drained
berries in jars and cover with
your choice of boiling water,
juice, or syrup, leaving Vi inch
headspace. With either method,
process jars in a boiling water
canner. Fill canner halfway with
water and preheat to 180 degrees
F for hot packs or 140 degrees F
for raw packs. Load sealed jars
into canner rack. Add water, if
needed, to a level of one inch
above jars. Cover.
When water boils vigorously.
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Items in Stock
| nou*m
jl^irtKouw
I v I
| COLEMAN CENTER (j)
lower heat to maintain a gentle
boil and process 15 minutes for
hot packed pints or quarts and
raw packed pints. Raw packed
quarts should be processed 20
minutes. Altitudes above 1000
feet require additional processing
time.
Here’s a recipe that’s sure to
become a favorite on pancakes,
waffles, or on top of ice cream.
Make some for yourself and
make some more to give as gifts.
BLUEBERRY SYRUP
2 quarts blueberries
6 cups water, divided
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Crush blueberries. Combine
blueberries, 2 cups water and
lemon peel in a medium sauce
pot. Simmer 5 minutes. Strain
through a damp jelly bag or sev
eral layers of cheesecloth. Com
bine sugar and 4 cups water in a
medium saucepot; boil to 260 de
grees F (adjust for altitude).
Add blueberry juice to sugar
syrup. Boil 1 minute. Stir in
lemon juice. Ladle hot syrup into
hot jars, leaving '/i-inch
headspace. Adjust two-piece
caps. Process 10 minutes in a
boiling water canner. Yield:
about 3 pints. Source: Ball Blue
Book
If you have food preservation
questions, a home economist is
available to answer questions on
Wednesdays 10:00 a.m.-l;00
p.m., call (717) 394-6851 or write
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion, Lancaster County, 1383 Ar
cadia Rd., Rm.l, Lancaster, PA,
17601.
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