Drying blueberries?

[silkiechicken]

I'm visiting Oregon and man, I found blueberries for cheap! U-pick for only $1 lb!!! Up in Washington it's 1.60 lb U-pick if you don't want to drive 40 miles to get there! So... I accidentally picked just over 10 lbs of the stuff..... for just two people... without my huge freezer space....

So how does everyone here do it? Or do you do it? I have frozen shelf fulls of blue berries but never tried drying them. Are they any good? I was eating some that were dried up off the vine and they were great! Like candy! So right now I have some cleaned and sitting on a flat pan in the sun... in my car...

How are you supposed to dry them if you don't have a dehydrator? Thanks!

 

[chickonaroost]

I've never dried blueberries, but I dry tomatoes. My DH built me wooden frames and streched screen over them. I cut the roma tomatoes in half-cut side up and stacked them in the sun. It took 3 days (bring them in at night), and they are beautiful-rich red and full of flavor. Maybe you could find something online about berries, but I would think you'd have to break or cut the skin to get them to dry before they molded.???

 

[ozark hen]

Lucky you! We had no blueberries this year!! I haven't a clue for drying them but I agree...go on line if you don't hear from anyone here.
I can just see it now, flats of tomatoes out in the sun...the chickens would think they had died and gone to heaven.

 

[chickonaroost]

Yeah, I had to hide them good. They have had their share of garden leavin's though!

 

[ozark hen]

 

[silkiechicken]

Oh, I didn't grow them, I just went to a 22 acre berry farm to get the last of the season out here. I did look online but didn't really find much that was "easy" or helpful really. Split all the berries in half!!! Boil them and crack them!!! Maybe I'll just freeze them.

 

[cheeptrick]

For drying put them in the oven at 200 degrees for 24 hours.
You can also puree them and make fruit leather in the same way. My girls love it!
We pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, and the apples in that order during the season and make jams, jellies, cordials etc!
I just made blueberry cordial...YUM...and intoxicating!

 

[mdbucks]

I freeze mine in a single layer on a cookie sheet then do the seal a meal thing with them, freeze first, so they dont squish.

 

[silkiechicken]

Thanks. I'll have to try that. I just pulled out the pan from my car minus the sunshade I normally have up... and... they are cooked... at least the car smells good now!

 

[mdbucks]

Quote:
Do you need my address so you know where to send mine YUM