Picking Blueberries and Currants at My Farm
It's berry season and here at my Bedford, New York farm, all available hands are busy picking delicious summer berries.
Last week, we picked black currants - those juicy, tangy fruits that grow on thornless understory shrubs. I use them to make jams, jellies, and tarts. They also make wonderful sorbets and they're easy to freeze for later use. And, we picked boxes of blueberries - everyone loves eating blueberries fresh off the stem. Low in fat, yet packed with vitamin-C and antioxidants, it’s not surprising they’re one of America’s favorite fruits to eat.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Here at the farm, everyone eagerly awaits the ripening of the blueberries. They are so perfect for snacking fresh off the stem or for making lots of delicious desserts and other treats. Once we see the berries turn this dark blue, we’re all out there with our berry boxes ready to pick.
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- My blueberries are all from these bushes located near my Flower Cutting Garden and large Equipment Barn, next to my grove of quince trees. The posts are the same 18th-century Chinese granite uprights I use for the clematis pergola, my apple espaliers, and to support my raspberry bushes. I grow many blueberry varieties, including ‘Bluegold’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Jersey’, and ‘Patriot’. Standard blueberry bushes grow about six to 10-feet tall. New shoots grow from the crown under the soil. At the base, blueberry shrubs have multiple canes growing directly out of the soil in clumps. The canes or branches are smooth and thornless. These bushes have done so well here at the farm. I am always so pleased with how prolific they are. A single mature blueberry bush can produce up to six thousand blueberries per year.
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- Blueberry bushes have glossy leaves that are green or bluish-green from spring through summer. The leaves are ovate, in an irregular oval or slightly egg shape that is wider at the bottom than the top. Blueberry leaves can also be harvested and dried for teas.
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- Every branch is full. Blueberries are perennial flowering plants. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries, and Madeira blueberries.
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- Blueberries are about five to 16 millimeters large with a flared crown at the end. They are pale greenish at first, and then reddish-purple and finally dark purple-blue when ripe for picking. When harvesting the fruits, select plump, full berries with a light gray-blue color. A berry with a hint of red is not fully ripened.
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- Blueberries were once called “star fruits” by North American indigenous peoples because of the five-pointed star shaped crown.
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- They are covered in a protective powdery epicuticular wax known as the “bloom”. These berries are just right. Blueberries are high in fiber, high in vitamin-C, and contain one of the highest amounts of antioxidants among all fruits and vegetables.
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- And, the blueberry is one of the only foods that is truly naturally blue. The pigment that gives blueberries their distinctive color is called anthocyanin – the same compound that provides the blueberry’s amazing health benefits.
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- Blueberries don’t actually reach their full flavor until a few days after they turn blue, so a tip to know which ones are the best – tickle the bunches lightly, and only the truly ripe ones will fall into hand. Enma is careful to pick only the bluest of them all, leaving the light green ones and reddish ones to mature.
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- Blueberries are among the most popular berries for eating. Here in the United States, they are second only to strawberries.
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- Unfortunately, many blueberries also fall to the ground or get snatched by birds. All those picked are carefully inspected – only the best are saved.
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- There will be lots of berries to pick for the next several weeks. We check the bushes every day from now through August.
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- This first harvest was very successful. Elvira is holding a tray of seven boxes – just a fraction of what was picked on this day.
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- Then it was a short walk to the currants located just behind my main greenhouse near the raspberries where they can get full sun. All these shrubs are full of black currants.
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- Currant leaves are palmate and deeply lobed, similar to maple tree leaves. The leaves of the black currant are a pale green in color and up to two inches long.
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- The varieties of black currants in my garden include ‘Ben Sarek’ and ‘Ben Lomond.’
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- I grow all currant colors – black, white, pink, and red currants, but on this day, we only picked the black ones.
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- Black currant, Ribes nigrum, is a woody shrub grown for its piquant berries. You can’t miss them in the garden – they are very aromatic. When ripe, black currants are dark purple in color, with glossy skins.
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- The best time to pick black currants is when they are dry and ripe. Harvest currants by picking the fruit clusters (strigs) rather than the individual berries. After picking, the individual berries can be stripped from the stems.
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- Black currants are the most nutrient-rich of the currants. They are high in vitamins A, C, B1, B5, B6, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. They are also high in minerals, such as iron, copper, calcium, and phosphorous. They can be eaten raw, but are usually cooked in a variety of sweet and savory dishes.
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- Currants are still largely unknown here in the United States. They are well-loved in many other countries, and here in the US, they are slowly gaining popularity, especially because of its high antioxidant content. They are now more prevalent at local farms and home gardens.
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- Enma and Elvira picked lots of great currants – this batch would be used to make sorbet for a summer business luncheon.
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