Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 289 kcal | 82 kcal |
| Protein | 3.5 g | 1 g |
| Fat | 1.5 g | 0.4 g |
| saturated | 0.2 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrate | 61.3 g | 17.4 g |
| sugars | 50.6 g | 14.4 g |
| Fibre | 12.2 g | 3.4 g |
| Sodium | 5 mg | 1 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2 kg blueberries (Fresh or Frozen)
Instructions
- Sort the berries first and throw out anything soft, split or showing a fleck of mould. One mouldy berry in a punnet has already put spores on everything it was touching.
- Freeze the berries overnight if you have the time. Ice crystals rupture the cell walls from the inside and do the same job as checking, with no boiling water involved.
- Otherwise check them: sit them in a sieve, dip it in boiling water for half a minute, then plunge it straight into cold. The wax coat is waterproof, and an unchecked berry can sit on a tray all day and still be a wet ball.
- Tip them onto a towel and roll them dry. Skins that go on wet stick to the mesh and tear open when you lift them off.
- Space the berries so none are touching and dry at 57 °C for 13 hours. They roll about when the fan starts, so shake the tray once to settle them back into one layer.
- Roll a handful between your palms towards the end of the run. Finished berries are hard, wrinkled and click against each other; any that squash and leave juice on your hand need longer.
- Cool them on the tray, then condition them in a jar for a week, shaking it each morning. Blueberries come in a range of sizes and therefore dry at a range of speeds — the week is what averages the moisture out between them.
- Once no mist forms on the glass, seal the jar and keep it dark, where they hold for a year. They will look duller than the day they came out; that is colour loss rather than spoilage, and it is exactly why the cupboard should be dark.
