I Made Blueberry Cobbler With My Blueberries. What Have You Made With Your Harvest?

kbmbillups1
kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Baking

I've been picking soooo many blueberries our freezer is full! And I've been giving them away or trading them for other veggies or fruits. Tonight I made Blueberry Cobbler since there is no more room in our freezer and my neighbors have had plenty of blueberries. It was SO good! I'm going to have to make other one soon!

I've frozen so many blueberries b/c I make kombucha with them in the winter when good fruit is hard to come by.

What have you guys made with your harvest? Or are you freezing or canning things for later?


Comments

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @kbmbillups1 could I have your recipe please. How many blueberry bushes do you grow to have that many blueberries ? Do you grow organically? I live in an area that has a huge blueberry industry, only problem is, they use far to many chemicals! I only ever buy frozen organic ones. Unless of course I grow my own. I have 2 plants but thats not enough. Your advice would be appreciated.

    Re my own harvest, lots of sweet potato and salad greens at the moment. I make a sweet potato and prune cake, very yummy!

  • Paradox
    Paradox Posts: 187 ✭✭✭

    yes, please share recipe, @kbmbillups1 !

    We are not harvesting a lot yet--it's been a cool spring. getting the first snap peas, which we ate with lunch. Strawberries won't produce much until next year. Harvested & Dried spearmint, lemon balm & cat nip.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jodienancarrow I have 3 very big blueberry bushes. Yes, they are organic. I feed them cut up organic banana peels in the winter a couple times - just cut them up small and sprinkle them on the ground underneath them. I don't remember who told me to do that but it seems to work. There are also some spiders like daddy long legs but not as big that live in them in the summer. I think of them as a gift from God. They keep the bug population down to very few and the birds don't bother my bushes very much either. Oh - I also cut a few large branches out of each bush every fall which causes more smaller branches to grow.

    My bushes are probably 12 or so years old and for a long time only 2 of them produced a lot of berries then my 3rd one which is a different variety (I don't remember which varieties I have) started mass producing very large blueberries a couple years ago.

    I've had sweet potatoes sweetened with fig paste that I've made but never prunes. Do you use them as a sweetener as well?

    @Paradox @jodienancarrow

    The recipe is simple: 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 cup milk (I used coconut milk but any will work) and 4 tbls butter. Heat your oven to 350, melt the butter in the bottom of your dish, pour the mixture over the butter then pour the blueberries over the mixture. I spread mine out a bit b/c I used way too many. I probably used a heaping quart instead of a cup and a half. Then you sprinkle a little sugar over the top once the mixture covers most of the berries. Bake until golden brown.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2020

    Opps hit post comment instead of home.

    Hope everyone is having a good day!

  • ieducate2008
    ieducate2008 Posts: 40 ✭✭✭

    I have an over abundance of cherries this year. So, I decided to make mini cherry pies in a muffin tin. They're still in the oven. So, I haven't tried one yet. I've never made cherry pie before. So, once they cool, I'll let you know how they taste!

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ieducate2008 That sound delicious! I make cherry kombuchas and they are very tasty!

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    On the rare occasion I have enough these days.... my grandfather had a stand of bushes that would fill a truck every other day! ... well, I don't get many anymore. But, when I do, WINE!

  • JaneMcTavish
    JaneMcTavish Posts: 26 ✭✭✭

    As things are harvested, right now I'm freezing Mulberries, Spinach and Kale. When they're no longer producing I will make pie filling, syrups, jams, jellies and more. I no longer can or freeze tomatoes Or tomato base sauces. (allergies, same with nuts). The season is going so quickly this year, I forage and dry a few things each year, Nettles, Jewel Weed, also dry and powder certain mushrooms. I plan to dry some Kale and powder it. (suggested and added to my list).

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @ieducate2008 and @kbmbillups1 you both mention making kombucha with your fruits. Do you add the fruits to your initial fermentation or wait until the second ferment?


    @kbmbillups1 I put an LOL on your oops posting as I have done that myself more than I care to admit.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    Last year I "discovered" rhubarb and blueberry pie/ cobbler/ crisp. Great combination. I haven't tried it with cherries, but I would think it would also be wonderful. In another topic someone mentioned rhubarb and pineapple as a great combination.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tomandcara My first ferment is just tea. I add the fruit to my second ferment. Right now I've been making orange with soursop, raspberry with grape, and blackberry. I love adding cherries, pomegranates arils, lychees, and watermelon as well to my second ferment. I found some ripe passion fruit a couple weeks ago that made a great kombucha too.

  • MelissaLynne
    MelissaLynne Posts: 205 ✭✭✭

    SO far all I’ve harvested is rhubarb, some herbs to dry and a few radishes. It has been a very slow start to our short growing season here. I’ve been trying out new recipes with the rhubarb. We’ve made rhubarb shrub and strawberry-rhubarb cream bars/popsicles. The popsicles are amazingly good. A big thanks to Chris at Joybilee Farms for the recipe!


  • EarlKelly
    EarlKelly Posts: 230 ✭✭✭

    Getting ready to make my favorite blueberry jam. But mine are still at the green stage. Anxiously awaiting for them to ripen. You guys are killing me with all the goodies you are making. Still love to see what you are making. Take care.

  • moreyshadypines
    moreyshadypines Posts: 72 ✭✭✭

    A lot of good ideas here. I have about 40 blueberry bushes, the late frost got one variety, but not the other. A good reason to diversify in the species. I also have 8 thornless blackberry bushes. The berries ripen so quickly there are too many to eat fresh. I make a mixed berry syrup, half full berries & half crushed - that way I have them all year to put on yogurt, cottage cheese or for baking. My electric fails occasionally, so I tend not to freeze. Canning and dehydrating are a safer bet.

    Thank you all for sharing!

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @moreyshadypines WOW! 40 blueberry bushes! Do you pick them yourself or do you open up to the public? I had a friend who had 25 blueberry bushes. She and her husband and her neighbors used to pick every night from 5 pm until dark the entire month of June. She told me not to plant but a couple bushes because of that. I pick for 45 minutes to an hour the way it is.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @kbmbillups1 I know it is traditional to ad the fruit to the second ferment of kombucha, I just wondered if you were breaking tradition. I have seen lots of "rules" for kombucha and some make sense, but some don't. Thank you for your reply

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tomandcara I have The Big Book of Kombucha and I've made several of her recipes which call for adding fruit to the first ferment. We really liked the banana kombucha fermented that way.

    What I found is that if you don't drink the entire thing quickly it becomes more vinegary than the small bottles I make with the 2nd ferment.

    Plus, for us the small bottles mean I can divide them up and 2nd ferment with different fruits or combinations to try out new flavors. That way if we don't like them I haven't wasted a lot of kombucha.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @kbmbillups1 I typically make a 2 gallon first ferment and bottle in 1 liter bottles for the second ferment. Please tell me more about the banana kombucha. It sounds like you aren't doing a second ferment when you add the fruit to the first ferment. Is there any reason you couldn't/shouldn't do a second ferment with kombucha from the fruit in the first ferment batch?

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tomandcara You mash up a banana and add it to your first ferment but you only use one scoby. Unless you're going to make more of the same kind you can't reuse the scoby. But you probably have quite a few extras like me to play around with. It never takes very long for it to become very bubbly. You do have to use a ripe banana though. I have found that I if use banana I have to make it with the 1st ferment. If I use it in the second ferment and it sits in the fridge too long it can explode. 😃

    To answer your last question - when I've fermented banana kombucha with 1st ferment it kind of sticks to the scoby and the bananas kind of make a mushy mess. So, I wouldn't reuse that but you probably could.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    @kbmbillups1 My wife definitely doesn't like exploding kombucha jars, That was why I stopped experimenting with fruits in the second ferment. It has been several years since the last explosions. I will probably wait awhile before venturing back into those realms. Intruiging, but I want to not worry my wife anymore than I already do. Thank you for telling me more about the banana kombucha.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tomandcara OMG We've had exploding bottles as well. I stopped using the ones with the stoppers b/c of that. We had one explode while we were in the other room so it scared us but not too much.

    I'd made kombucha for my in-laws in those stopper bottles and they'd forgotten about them when they'd gotten home. My father in-law set them beside the refrigerator instead of inside. That night while they were asleep they had 2 explosions! Their alarm went off which has a voice that started very loudly saying "Intruder in the house. We have call the police." over and over. It took them a few minutes to figure out what happened before they got the call from the alarm service! 😀

    I use recycled kombucha bottles now. No more explosions!