As the director of farming operations for Keel and Curley Winery, Ryan Keel knows a lot about blueberries. During blueberry picking season in April, Keel has about 100 pickers, whom he trains how to pick only the best blueberries.
During the two days of the Blueberry Festival, visitors can join in on the last U-picks of the year. To help those new to picking blueberries, Keel has offered some advice to help you leave with plenty of perfectly plump berries.
Download a copy of these tips to bring with you here.
COLOR
You only want the bluest of the blue. Green or red ones aren’t ripe. Make sure to not only look at the top of the berry for color, but look on the bottom, as well. Too dark of a blueberry means it is overripe.
TEXTURE
Check out the berries for any aesthetic damage, such as bird pecks or frost damage. If they have damage, throw them on the ground.
RIPENESS
Overripe berries are dark blue and soft to the touch. If the berries are overripe, they tend to spoil more quickly than other berries. If an overripe berry is packaged with ripe berries, leakage from the overripe berry can cause the package to become moldy.
QUANTITY
Pick one berry at a time. Don’t grab the whole clump at one time. This will cause the stems to be pulled off with the berry. It may be faster to grab a whole clump at once, but later, you will have to pull out all the stems.
HANDLING
The more you touch a blueberry, the softer they get. This can cause leakage, which will make the berry moldy and can contaminate other berries in your package. It’s best to leave the berries alone once they are in you basket.mobile.wihack.com mobile.wihack.com