Blueberry muffins are great at any time of year but are especially delicious with fresh-picked sweet berries. These muffins are made with buttermilk and have both vanilla and almond extract in the recipe. There is even a sprinkling of sugar on top!

Frozen or Fresh Blueberries

You can use either fresh or frozen blueberries in this recipe with great results! If using frozen berries, just make sure the muffins have cooked all the way through before removing them from the oven. And to be honest, I find it hard to tell if the berries were fresh or frozen after they have been cooked.

Picking Blueberries

I went to a blueberry farm and picked these berries a few hours before baking and they were very sweet, juicy, and perfect for muffins. They are much better than what you can usually find in a grocery store.

Tips

Here are some tips for picking fresh blueberries:

Skip red or white ones that are under-ripe and soft ones that are overripe.
Pick larger berries because many times they will be the sweetest.
Ripe berries will break off the bushes easier than under-ripe berries so hold your bucket underneath the branch you are picking from to catch them all.
Be careful pulling on branches you cannot see well because bees will light on branches and sting when your hand lands on them.
Pick early in the day to avoid the heat. Blueberry fields are usually more crowded in the morning, but it is not as hot.
Take water with you because it is easy to get overheated. Blueberry picking is usually done in the middle of the summer on very hot days. Some fields are very large with lots of bushes and it is a long walk back to the car.

Washing Berries

As tempting as it is, (most of the time) I try not to eat berries in the field before they are washed. They may have bugs, bird poop, bacteria, or pesticides on them. Other than rinsing well with water, here are some ways to clean fruit:

Soak it in a 10 percent solution of salt water for 20 minutes (for example, 9 ounces water to 1-ounce salt) I have found that salt water is the best way to remove bugs, especially on fruit like blackberries that have many places for bugs to hide. After about 10 minutes, bugs will float to the top of the water.
Baking soda and water is another way to wash fruit. Use 1-ounce baking soda to 100 ounces of water and soak for 15 minutes.
One-part vinegar to 4 parts water for 20 minutes will also clean fruit. However, vinegar can be a little harsh for delicate fruit skins so use this method with caution.

Storing Fresh-Picked Blueberries

After washing fresh-picked blueberries, I spread them out to dry and then store them in the freezer. If you freeze them while they are wet, they will stick together and be almost impossible to break apart when you want to use them. If I am in a hurry, I freeze the berries before I wash them and write “unwashed” on the bag.

For best results, I store fresh-picked berries in the refrigerator in a zipper bag before I wash them. If you put them in the refrigerator wet, they seem to go bad quickly. Of course, you will need to wash them before eating them. Also, store blueberries in shallow containers. A plastic bag heavy with berries means that the ones on the bottom of the bag may get crushed from the weight.