Blueberries are processed into traditional products such as jams and jelly juice, puree, canned and dried. Others are preserves, compotes, sauces, pies, cobblers, and pastries.
Unlike some seasonal fruits, blueberries are preserved in various ways the people can buy them year around. Traditional jams, and jellies, frozen berries and can pie filling have been joined on grocery store shelves by other products such as blueberry juice and dried blueberry.
Blueberry juice is generally marketed as a blend with other jucies. The basic making steps are similar to strawberries. Single-strength blueberry juice is about 8-12 degree Brix.
Frozen blueberry juice concentrates of 45-65 degree Brix are made by concentrating single-strength blueberry juice and freezing to less than -18 degree Celsius.
Canned blueberries can be light or heavy syrup packed or water packed. For this, fresh or frozen blueberries are placed in cans, light syrup or water is added to cover the head specie, and cans are sealed and heat processed at about 93-95 degree Celsius with 25-30 minutes holding time.
Blueberry bakery fillings can be made from fresh/frozen blueberries and/or blueberry or concentrates by adding sweeteners and stabilizer according to requirements, heat processing and packaging.
The bakery trade has always been primary market for blueberries, but the popularity of blueberry in the preparation of muffins in coffee shops and home baking since World War II created an even larger market.
A great snack or cereal toping, dried blueberries are made with fresh or frozen fruit infused with a sugar solution to keep the dried berry soft, then dehydrated with hot air, reducing their moisture content to around 20 percent.
Other product is freeze-dried blueberries. Freeze-dried blueberries are light, crispy, of low density (about 0.10) and their water activity is slightly above 0.20. These products have found increasing used in ready-to-eat cereals because of their light texture, low bulk density, and water activity.
Blueberry Products
