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Session
Five:
Handling Fruit After Harvest
 The best time of day to harvest
blueberries is in the morning. The
temperature is lower, the berries are cooler and it is easier to
refrigerate them once you get them harvested. Also in the morning
the berries are turgid, full of water and at the peak of quality.
And lastly, it is a more comfortably time of day in which to
harvest. The berries on a
given blueberry bush should be harvested once a week. A good way
to harvest blueberries is to roll the berries with your thumb in the
palm of your hand (pictured below). This
does several things. First of all it keeps you from crushing the
fruit. Secondly, it's easier to tell which berries are ripe; a
ripe berry will separate easily from the stem, whereas unripe berries
cling tightly. And third, it keeps you from disturbing the waxy
bloom on the fruit. This waxy bloom makes the fruit more
attractive and also slows down the loss of water once the fruit has been
harvested.  Blueberries
are perishable and care after harvest is very important. As the
berries are dark, they heat up rapidly if left in the sun. As soon
as you can after picking them find a shady place to leave them and get
them to refrigeration as soon as possible. Refrigerated
blueberries will last varying lengths of time depending on the
temperature. If stored at 32 degrees, berries should be in good
shape after two weeks of storage. At 40 degrees, they will last
about a week, but if left at room temperature they will start to decline
in quality at after only two days. REFRIGERATION IS VERY
IMPORTANT. |