Blueberry wine

Blueberries are the highest rated among 60 different fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capabilities.

Blueberries are versatile in that they can make equally good dry red table wines and sweeter dessert wines.

It is recommended that fully ripened, even a bit overripened, blueberries be considered in order to achieve good color and flavor.

Some of the best blueberries for wine are those which commercial packers discard as ‘floaters’ in the washing process. These are overripened and generally perfect for winemaking when carefully assorted.

The winemaker needed twenty pounds of blueberries to make five gallons of blueberry wine.

A study found that blueberry wine delivered 38 percent more antioxidant anthocyanins than red wine, which is touted for its cardioprotective capability.

According to a study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 4 ounces of white wine contained 0.47 mmol of antioxidant; 4 ounces of red had 2.04 mmol and the same amount of blueberry wine boasted 2.42 mmol of protective antioxidants.
Blueberry wine

Blueberry puree

Purees are fruits that have gone through a straining or pulping process to break down the fruit structure, and if desired, separate any seeds, skins or other o0cmpoients of the original fruit from the desired finished puree.

Most of the wild blueberries and about 30% of cultivated blueberries are processed into various products.

Good berries are led into successive pan that contains water to separate heavy solids, such as stones etc. Subsequently the berries are sanitized with chlorine water spray.

Single-strength blueberry puree and puree concentrates can be made by cutting/crushing berries passed through a pulper/finisher, pasteurizing or concentrated, freezing and filled into containers.

These products are suitable for use in sauce and fillings.
Blueberry puree

Fruit of blackberry

Fruit of blackberry
Scientific name: Rubus spp.
Family name:    Rosaceae

Blackberries planted and commercially cultivated worldwide. Blackberry fruits are eaten fresh or processed. The common primary products from processing are individually quick frozen, canned, pureed, juice and freeze dried fruit.

Blackberries are red to hard brown-red; are hard when they are immature; and turn black, shiny and soft when they ripen.

The ripe fruit is soft and juicy and has a very dark-purplish color with a smooth, fragile skin.

In the wild, blackberries are found growing everywhere, Some of these wild plants creep along the ground, whereas others grow upright like small trees. Three main types of blackberries have been developed into commercial crops: the trailing, erect and semi-erect blackberries.

Because eating quality does not improve after harvest, blackberries should be harvested at the shiny black stage, when fruit attains a glossy fully black color, appears and feels turgid and is easily detached from the plant.

Fruit from trailing blackberries tend to give an excellent, aromatic flavor, with less noticeable seeds than many eastern North American and European species.
Fruit of blackberry 

Blueberry sauce

Blueberry sauce is thicker than the syrup. It can be used on ice cream, puddings, or with meat in place of cranberry sauce. Blueberry sauce can also be stirred into yoghurt to make desert called a fool.

Blueberries made into a sauce seasoned with spices and lemon juices go particularly well with pancakes.

They can be sandwiched between crisp fries layers of puff pastry, Americans like blueberry sauce with ginger, ice cream and shortcake.

Among the ingredients for making blueberry sauce:
4 cups (600g) blueberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 to 2 tablespoon agave syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
Blueberry sauce

Blueberry Products

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