New season blueberries now grown in far North Queensland are my pick this week. Blueberry sales now exceed Strawberries as the most popular of the berries. In past years, late April until the June long weekend was extremely difficult for blueberries in fact we sold them as high as $20 punnet regularly and one year $24! That was ten years ago! Hence I find it amusing when the current $10 price point of the last few weeks causes people to say my god they are dear. Regardless our friends at Costa are doing a fabulous job with new season blues way up at Tolga near Mareeba and so for the next month or so we will have really excellent eating, not so expensive fruit nearly a month earlier than in previous years when the season would start in mid-June from the NSW north coast. These berries really are now a twelve month of the year crop. I am not certain if that's a good thing or not, I miss the seasonality of fruit we used enjoy.
HOW TO PICK
Select firm, plump berries that have a natural, light blue-silver blush on the skin (this blush is a natural protective wax coating) and avoid excessively soft or withered berries.
HOW TO STORE
Store in the fridge. Don't wash berries until right before eating as washing will remove the bloom that protects the berries' skin from degradation.
