Hi Everyone.
I bought the biggest bag of frozen blueberries I could find and it turns out they're horribly bland! My family usually loves my blueberry muffins but last time I added an extra 1/3 cup of sugar and still all I could taste was bland, boring blue-ish-berries. Is there any saving these things? Last time I bought frozen blueberries I bought the organic ones and they were smaller and juicier and did amazing things in my recipes. These are big and blah.
Please help???
I've noticed the last few bags I bought are not very sweet. I'm thinking this must not be a good crop/season/batch/ etc. I by the big bags often and I've noticed them tasting this way for about the last 6 ish months??
You could puree the blueberries with about a quarter cup of fresh orange juice and a quarter cup of sugar. Strain the puree through a sieve and then bring it to a boil until it's reduced and thickened. Use it as a sauce on ice cream or over pound cake.
Make smoothies with other berries, kiwi, yoghurt, peaches... and blueberry crumble, this is a good recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/blueberry-crumble-reci...
If these "blah" blueberries weren't organic, then you probably got genetically modified (GMO) blueberries. These crops are specifically designed to ward of pests by adding the DNA and RNA of insects and to yield a high amount of fruit. Of course the bug thing sounds gross, but when a plant is modified to produce more and larger fruit/produce than it was originally genetically designed to do, it causes extreme changes in taste, texture and overall quality of nutrition in the plant. You get a whole lot of nothin'! Another example is why tomatoes that aren't organic taste so "mealy" and watery. Do your own taste test!
Next time go organic (especially with berries) or if you can't get organic, go local (cheaper than organic), buy fresh and freeze yourself. You would be supporting your local farmers and it has to travel less to keep the nutrient content up.
To save the berries, I would use them in a smoothie with a little added liquid Stevia. Stevia will give the extra sweetness your looking for without all the added sugar. Maybe make a puree with a few drops of Stevia and add to fresh yogurt to make your own "fruit on the bottom" yogurt-YUM!
I make a blueberry sauce for ice cream, cheesecake or pancakes.
You could try a pie or a slump - anything where you can add sugar (and maybe a touch of cinnamon) to the blueberries as they cook up.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1713,145181-227200,00.html
For a pie you could mix the blue berries with another fruit for added sweetness.
Blueberry rhubarb is good, but cherries or other berries would work, too.
I hear you. I know some orchards pick fruit before they are ripe so they can ripen "on the truck". I think they might do that to blueberries but blueberries don't get sweeter once they are picked.
If you can't taste the blueberryness then I suggest returning the bag b/c you might have just bought a bag of unripened berries and they won't get any tastier w/age.
I would try to return them (you'll need the receipt). Maybe it was just a bad batch.
My MIL went and picked blueberries with the kids and they were HORRIBLE! I didnt have the heart to throw them out, so we put some cool whip all over them and ate it for a snack. On the weekends I would warm them up a little and throw them on pancakes. With the syrup its not so bad. Even when they taste bad, they are still good for you. You could look at it like that? :) Good luck!
Try adding some lemon zest and lemon juice to your recipe it will brighten the taste of the blueberries, if making blueberry pie cook down 1/2 of the blueberries called for in the recipe to concentrate the flavor.
